Jate'kara
by Darth Echo
Summary: (Destiny, Book 1) Jedi Knight Onika Ka'on must face the tragedy and struggles of the Clone War whilst also battling the rising darkness within herself. On this journey to discover her true destiny, the bond between her and a broken ARC trooper may be her only salvation. Her loyalty to the Jedi Order will be tested, as their shared heritage and pasts bring them dangerously closer.
1. 1: Sands of Geonosis

_a/n: Onika Ka'on is pronounced [AH-nih-KAH KAH-Ohn]_

_Fate cannot be changed..._

_Destiny is what is what you're meant to be..._

**Chapter One: Sands of Geonosis**

The Republic gunship flew over the endless red sands of Geonosis, throwing bright orange whisps into the hot, arid wind.

Jedi Knight Onika Ka'on closed her eyes to keep out the grains. Ash brown hair with blonde ends twisted in the wind, catching on the Jedi's face and the folds of her brown robe. Her lightsabers swung back and forth on the clips of her traditional tunic. When the breeze subsided, Onika opened her eyes, revealing two liquid amber orbs. Her fair skin shone from the bright sun over Geonosis.

This will be the first major conflict of her Jedi career, quite the task. Her former mentor, the Grand Master Yoda, entrusted her with an entire company to lead. They were tasked with destroying a Separatist intelligence outpost. Inexperienced in battle, Onika was very reluctant to believe herself ready to head such an operation.

However, Yoda sensed she was. _And_ placed her with the rank of Commander.

In the gunship with her were three clones from the 66th Army Battalion. Ka'on was given a brief description of the men she was going into this mission with: special operatives trained specifically for retrieving or destroying enemy intel and communications. Apparently the nature of their training was far more brutal than that of their normal clone counterparts.

Onika glanced sideways to the clone commander of this battalion, Alpha-3, who also stood inside the gunship. When Onika glanced through the datapad on her company, Alpha-3's file was blacklisted. Considering how the other men were trained, it disturbed the Jedi Knight to imagine why their leader was classified.

The man had not yet said a word to Onika, only looked at her for a brief moment when she stood next to him.

As the gunship settled down onto the sands, the Jedi looked around curiously. They had landed quite a distance away from the main battle zone. It appeared the array of gunships that followed hers were in the valley of a vast mountain range. The orange-red rocks towered high into the open blue sky. Within the valley were several large rock formations and scattered ridges. The men were starting to gather in the circle the gunships created.

From overhearing the clones on the gunship talk to each other, Onika speculated that the Geonosian hideout was located past a series of mountains in an underground catacomb system. During her studies in the Jedi Temple, Ka'on had learned quite a bit about these systems. They were extensive and complex, very easy to get lost in. No wonder the Republic was sending a spec ops company in.

Onika felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning her head, she was met with a clone bearing no markings. He towered over her, as they all did, forcing her to crane her neck up.

"Might want to start making your way over, Commander," he said with his gruff accent. Onika blinked at him as she processed his words before glancing back to the gathering white mass of the company. In the mix she spotted the clone commander with his yellow stripes. He was making hand gestures and signals, not saying a word.

The clone nudged her again, and this time Onika blushed in embarrassment and started moving. She felt very out of place and had no clue what she was doing. These men were born into a military life, while she a peacekeeper one. Thankfully, the clone walked with her, probably sensing she needed guidance.

The red sand crunched underneath the Jedi's boots and the wind had her squinting. Heat from the beating sun wasn't helping either. Onika wondered how these men could be comfortable wearing head-to-toe armor and bodysuits in such conditions. Again, she was reminded that they were born for this lifestyle. None of this seemed to affect them in any capacity.

When Ka'on approached the group, Alpha-3 gave her a glance before looking back to his men. He activated a hologram mapping out the catacombs, most likely from scanning equipment. As he was gesturing to the different parts of the underground hideout without speaking, Onika realized he was communicating through his HUD. She was informed the clones had an internal communication system allowing them to speak with each other while remaining silent.

The Knight stood awkwardly as the briefing continued, completely disconnected from the group and feeling like an outcast. Onika couldn't help but wonder if they were intentionally leaving her uninformed. She dug swirls into the sand with the tip of her boot, trying not to let her nervousness get to her.

Out of nowhere the large group of clones broke off into smaller sections. Onika was not familiar with the structure or rankings of armies, but figured the men who stayed with Alpha-3 must be officers of some sort, as they bore either red, blue, or green stripes. The clone who had guided her tilted his helmet towards the commander before taking off to his section.

Ka'on cautiously approached the group, feeling shivers roll down her spine as the officers looked to her. Alpha-3 continued to look at the hologram while adjusting his equipment.

"Finally joining the party, general?" asked a clone with red markings. "We got a lot to catch you up on." The others chuckled a bit, checking the charges on their weapons or their utility belts. It was clear they didn't take her very seriously. Trained in reading people's outward thoughts and body language, the Jedi could tell the men viewed her as a burden to the mission.

Onika raised a brow at the man before nodded. "I would very much like to know what is going on."

The red-marked clone made a gesture and the ones with blue and green markings departed, splitting off to different groups. He then motioned for the Jedi to come closer to the hologram. Alpha-3 still said nothing to her. Onika stared at him for a moment with hesitation before stepping closer, giving her full attention to the man who spoke to her.

"Somewhere in this underground system is a facility the bugs used to keep quite a bit of information on their factories and production records. Intelligence wants us to storm the facility and either upload the information to the Republic database or destroy it. Whichever takes as little time as possible," he paused and looked at the commander, "The commander wants us to breach both entry-exit points at the same time to prevent any intel from escaping. You'll be going with his team."

The Jedi Knight gazed at the two groups forming in the valley and the men gearing up for the task. Her robe fluttered in the wind and she turned to the commander, who was now staring at her. She could not see his face, but the black visor burned a hole into her. This man radiated intimidation and aggression.

"Any questions, Jedi?"

Ka'on squinted her eyes at the commander, not registering what he had said for a moment. A small amount of resentment flushed through her at the tone of his voice. It reminded her too well of his genetic model, Jango Fett. The age old hatred between Mandalorians and Jedi was evident in him.

After a period of silence, and a few awkward clearing of throats from the officers, the commander took the hologram and deactivated it. "Good," he grunted, "I don't want to brief anyone a second time." With that the commander put a hand on the small blaster clipped to his hip and started walking away. When Onika didn't immediately follow him, he stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder. "Are you waiting for me to hold your hand or what?"

The red-marked clone laughed and put his right hand on Onika's shoulder. "Maybe I should take the Jedi on her first mission, eh Green?" he called out. With a shrug of his shoulders, the commander continued walking towards his team.

Onika turned to the man as he released her shoulder, giving him a slight smile.

"Green is pretty rough," he said with a smirk in his voice, "I'm sure he'll come around." Before he could start walking, Ka'on stopped him with a hand. "Thank you, uh…."

"Lucas," the man said, "I'm the captain of Phantom Company." Onika nodded in acknowledgement and walked alongside him towards the group of nearly seventy clone troopers gathered around a series of gunships. "Thank you, Lucas," she said. He muttered a "you're welcome" before they reached the group.

The two made their way through the crowd, the men stepping aside slightly for Lucas but not Onika. She had to shove her way past a couple clones pretending they didn't see her. It was obvious the Jedi would have to earn their respect, as they seem to imitate their leader's disdain for the Order.

Lucas reached the empty pocket inside of the mass and looked around, nodding towards each of the other officers, most likely taking a headcount. The captain turned around and motioned Onika over to his side.

"Alright boys," he spoke out loud instead of in the HUD system, so Onika could understand what was going on. "We are going to breach the west entrance two kliks from the main entrance, which Green is going after. Breach will happen at 2100 after the sun goes down so we can sneak across the valley under the cover of darkness."

"You know the drill, night vision and radio silence until we reach the compound. Lucky for us, the mountains masked our arrival so the bugs won't know we're coming. We still have a few kliks to move in on foot, so be ready to roll out in ten minutes. Check your packs. Lieutenants I need a headcount and gear check before we go out."

A green-marked clone whistled, catching the Captain's attention. "Cap', which squad do you want to take the charges?" Lucas looked around and grunted in thought. "Ahhh, hey Sergeant Grayson?"

Another green-marked clone sitting on the sand inspecting his weapon nodded his head. "Yeah, boss?" Onika made a mental note that the men with green armor must be sergeants, as red are captains. Yellow must be commanders, leaving the blue to be lieutenants.

"Since your guys are infiltrating the fourth quadrant wear the main storage room is I'll have you guys lug the charges. You good with that?" Lucas spoke in his grammatically poor manner.

"Sounds good to me," Grayson shrugged. The men standing behind him clapped each other on the shoulders and seemed excited at the prospect of blowing something up. Onika was slightly unnerved by this, having been drilled in the pacifist ways of the Jedi her whole life.

"Sweet," the captain said and clapped, "Roll out in ten minutes! Let's get going!"

The clones dispersed, leaving Onika and Lucas standing next to each other. Lucas handed Onika a pack of rations and the water canteen from his belt. "You'll need these for the trek," he muttered as she curiously took the items from him. "We'll probably be on foot for a couple hours."

"Thank you, again," Onika smiled at Lucas, receiving a nod. "You still have some for yourself?" She realized that he had given her _his_ supply. With a roll of his shoulders, Lucas chuckled. "Don't worry, ma'am, we always carry extra. Plus the medics keep a water supply for us."

The winds started kicking up again, pelting sand onto the metal panels of the gunships. Onika watched as the pilots talked to each other in the cockpits casually. Even among the men who were prepping seemed so comfortable with all of this. Being an outsider and new to all of this, Onika was getting more nervous by the minute, not entirely knowing what was going on. All she could gather was that they were going to go in and blow something important up. She wasn't too sure what she was supposed to do or why they needed _her_.

"Hey," Lucas nudged her, "Just follow my lead and you'll do great." Onika blew out an uneasy breath and groaned. "I hope so," she muttered and stared off into the distance. Lucas patted her shoulder before stepping away, "You got eight minutes, commander."

With a huff, the Jedi Knight made her way back to the gunship she arrived in. She slipped off her robe and rested her hands on her lightsabers, drawing strength and comfort from their presence. Running her fingers over the fauna carvings in the metal, the young woman pondered over the position she was in. These men did not look up to her and disrespected her. Although she didn't condone this, Onika knew she needed to prove herself and earn that respect.

Ka'on hung the robe on a handle and stepped off the gunship, making her way towards Lucas's side. He took in her new appearance-Jedi tunic, twin lightsabers, and heeled knee-high brown boots-with approval. "You look ready to go," he poked.

Onika smirked his way and attached the canteen to her belt. "Ready as I'll ever be," she sighed under her breath.


	2. 2: The Compound

**Chapter Two: The Compound**

The large window within the Chancellor's office provided an amazing view of the overpopulated planet. Thousands of speeders and transports flew across the never-ending city streets, going about their business. It was so tranquil in comparison to the gory, violent battles raging across the galaxy at that very moment. Onika stared blankly out into the horizon, her mind stuck on one of those such battles.

Palpatine sat in his curved chair, curiously observing the Jedi in her prolonged state of quiet. He gave a brief smirk before glancing to the datapad on his desk. Unfolding his hands from his lap, the man picked up the device. While the Chancellor casually perused the report, Onika continued to look around at the peaceful society bragging about their lack of horror.

In her mind, Ka'on wondered if they were aware of the thousands of clones dying somewhere else so they could be so peaceful. Dying _against_ their will, might she add. The clones were bred to fight for this war. They didn't volunteer, and they didn't have the same rights as the other citizens of the Republic.

They were slaves.

Onika had dwelled on this in the past four days since the Battle of Geonosis. The events she witnessed on the planet forever changed her. The words to describe them didn't exist, and the Jedi was left feeling torn and angry. Torn between what the Jedi Order taught of peace and what was necessary to win a battle. Angry that the clones were so expendable in the eyes of the Republic and the Jedi.

"Replaying the past does not change it, my dear."

Ka'on looked at him from the corner of her eyes. He was giving her a grim, yet sympathetic smile, if one were to call it that. Since she was a child, Palpatine had always been able to read her mind. Her being an apprentice of Yoda, she was present whenever the Council met with the leader of the Republic. Therefore, she had created an odd bond with Palpatine that allowed him to read her thoughts as if they were written on her face.

"Maybe if I play it enough," the young woman barely uttered, "Those men will come back to life." She gave one last look to the setting orange sun before taking a seat in front of the Chancellor. The light from the sunset cast a band of yellow over her face. As the light reflected off her pupils, the liquid amber color gave Onika a correctly furious look.

"You will learn soon, Onika, that you cannot save everyone," Palpatine stated. Though her face remained the same, Onika internally frowned at these words. She did not appreciate how easily he seemed to accept the casualties of war. His face changed into that of a more optimistic demeanor. "You managed to secure quite a serious load of intelligence on Geonosis."

Ka'on recognized the Chancellor's attempt at diverting the conversation. Her brow raised and the liquid amber seemed to get brighter. "We found the location of three off-world droid factories and a list of senators loyal to the Separatists," she responded, "I've been told that the 66th will be in charge of the operation to destroy these factories."

Chancellor Palpatine looked up from the datapad with a questioning face. "They will."

Onika nodded at this and met the man's gaze headstrong. "I wish to join them."

A few moments of awkward silence followed the Jedi's words. The Chancellor broke eye contact and turned away with a sliver of a shocked look. Onika turned to stare out the window again, the sun disappearing before her eyes.

"If I recall your telling of events correctly," Palpatine started, "You and the commanding officer did not get along very well."

Ka'on gave a snort and lightly rolled her eyes. "That is quite the understatement."

She smiled as she walked closer to the glass. "The one they call 'Green' and I nearly clawed at each others' throats. But…" The smile faltered, "He did save my life."

Palpatine seemed to brim with enthusiasm at this. A weird, twisted look of curiosity came upon his wrinkled face. "Do tell." Onika swallowed the lump in her throat and saw the blood on Geonosis in the red horizon.

* * *

Reaching the compound was the easy part. The Jedi barely remembered the hours of marching through the desert and mountains. Gritty sand clogged in her boots long forgotten. The only vivid memories she had were of the moments following the charges blowing.

She was hunkered down next to Lucas, hands covering her ears and head ducked. A loud boom registered and all of her senses were thrown off. As the bright white flash disappeared, the Jedi's vision went dark and blurry. Flashes of blue and red zipped by slowly, as did many white blobs. They floated in front of Onika slowly, a few stopping and melting into the ground.

The voices and screams seemed to shout at her from the distance. Onika looked around, her vision gradually clearing itself. The blobs eventually turned back into clone troopers, and the flashes became blaster fire. It was then than Ka'on realized the blobs on the ground were fallen troopers. She gazed wide-eyed at the bullet holes penetrating their bodies and blood seeping from wounds. A couple clones were crouched by their sides, trying to revive or heal them.

The suffocating stench of dead carcauses that once enveloped the catacombs was overpowered by the smell of burning flesh and blood. Onika could barely hold back a gag as her smell and other senses came back to her suddenly. The Force opened up to her once more and all she could feel was dead souls surrounding her.

Amongst the cries of dying clones and ear splitting blasters, Onika made out someone calling her name.

"Commander Ka'on!"

The Jedi looked back and forth frantically until she matched the voice to a clone in all white running up to her from the breached wall. He repeated her name as he grasped onto her shoulders and shook her violently. Her shocked eyes gazed up at him with fright and confusion. She glanced back over at the dead bodies.

The man moved her head to look back at him. "Can you hear me?!" the clone shouted as he waved a hand in front of her face. Onika weakly nodded her head.

With a great effort, the woman closed her eyes and tried to drown out everything. To reconnect with the Force, she completely shut off her senses. Once all the shouting and bloodshed fell away, Onika was able to control her breathing and calmly come back to her senses. Instead of overwhelming her, the stench and loud noises were pushed to the background of her consciousness.

Ka'on opened her eyes again to find the clone crouched down next to her firing into the giant hole in the wall.

Gazing through the wall, Onika saw the clones hastily cutting down a horde of Geonosians. They seemed to come out of the vents in the walls, a perfect ambush. Ka'on only stared at the scene for a moment longer before springing forward. She ignited both green blades in a fury, cutting down a Geonosian that flew towards her.

Many troopers glanced her way as she began deflecting blaster fire and slicing down bugs. The Jedi was completely in tune with the Force, using it to predict the Geonosians' attacks. With graceful spins and twirls, the Knight easily made her way into the compound.

Onika followed the men through a series of hallways. The compound was very similar in style to the catacombs, but was more spacious and decorated. There were many large rooms with holo tables and computers. It was obviously some sort of military installation where the Geonosians either controlled the droids they built or programmed them.

The clones were clearing the rooms of Geonosians, placing charges, and downloading information all at once. Onika kept her focus on guarding the rooms from attacks, standing in front of a line of clones as they also cut down enemies.

When the horde seemed to stop momentarily, Onika looked back to see the men taking position in front of the entrance to each room. The Knight made her way into the largest one as she put away her blades.

The compound was better lit than the catacombs, allowing Onika to make out Captain Lucas and Commander Green talking in the middle of the atrium. Clones ran about with datapads and charges. Ka'on made her way around them towards the officers. Lucas noticed her first and nodded her way. "Commander Ka'on."

Green turned his helmet for only a second before turning back to a holo table with blueprints of droids. Onika didn't glance Green's way at all. She did not want to give his disdain for her any attention.

Lucas looked between the two before facing the Jedi. "The breach went better than expected," he said, "Since the bugs didn't know we were coming, their security was caught off guard."

Ka'on thought back to the dead clones that were probably still lining the catacombs. She found it hard to grasp that as going "better than expected." For a moment the smell of death came back to her and the Knight had to close her eyes and shove it away.

When she opened her eyes, Onika saw Green peering down at her. He was now facing the woman and aired a pissed off aura. The Knight met his faceless gaze head on, strength from the Force keeping her calm.

The man gripped onto the edge of the holo table harshly, enough that Onika could feel his knuckles turning white.

"Success aside," he growled, "We don't need any weakness on this battalion." Ka'on gritted her teeth as Lucas stepped between the two, putting a hand on Green's pauldron. "Sir, I don't think-"

He was cut off abruptly as Green shrugged him away and pointed to the Jedi. "She needs to hear this, Lucas," he barked, "Her little panic attack nearly cost us this mission." Onika looked away, knowing what he said was probably true. The clone who stopped to help her could have easily been shot, as his back was turned to the battle.

Lucas moved himself so that he was fully blocking Green from the woman. "It wasn't that bad, Green," he said in a placating tone, "Besides, she hasn't been trained for this kind of stuff."

"Then she should have stayed behind," the commander argued, folding his hands over his chest, "We don't have time to babysit." Lucas shook his head at this, giving Green a silent signal to cut it with the demeaning talk. He looked over his shoulder at the Jedi, who stood there awkwardly, trying not to let her emotions get the better of her.

"Just give her a chance," the captain pleaded, stepping away from the two. Green huffed and looked up at the ceiling in frustration. Seizing a step towards the Jedi, he leaned down to get face to face with her. Lucas made a warning hum at this, reading himself to defend the woman again.

Onika allowed herself to frown at the clone and raise her brows in almost a taunting manner. Green exhaled sharply through his nose at this, similar to a bull about to charge. Before he could open his mouth with a smart comeback, the room suddenly rumbled and started shaking.

Someone yelled out "earthquake" and everyone moved in a frenzy to find shelter.

The ceiling, shaking with all the weight of the earth and catacombs above, began to crack and shed dust. A large rock half the size of the holo tables released itself and plummeting down towards the Jedi's head.

Onika shrieked as she felt herself being yanked away. The boulder smashed into the ground, shattering into a pile of smaller rocks in front of her. When the dust settled, Ka'on tried to move, only to find herself partially pinned down underneath the commander. Green had used his body to push her to the ground out of the boulder's path.

Stunned at this and disoriented with the room still shaking, Onika looked to the clone pressed against her. He seemed to stare at her as well, only to shake his head and get to his feet. Without warning, he effortlessly picked the Jedi up with one hand and placed her back on her feet. She caught her balance and started running as the commander herded her towards the door of the room.

"The catacombs are collapsing!" Green shouted through the commlink on his wrist. "Finish setting what charges you can and retreat." A series of confirmations from other officers came back in response. The commander seemed satisfied with that and began barking instructions to the clones still in the room. He placed the Jedi in the doorframe, keeping a hand gripped onto her shoulder.

"Stay here," he said with less malice than usual. Onika watched him run off to help the men set charges.

The room stopped shaking for small periods of time before going again. Ka'on used her senses to feel that different portions of the tunnels were collapsing that the same time. She began to worry about how they were going to escape in case the main tunnels became blocked. While using her enhanced senses, Onika could feel dozens of voices crying out in agony and passing on. She realized men were being trapped by the collapses and crushed to death.

As the woman contemplated what to do, the commander returned and rushed her out of the doorway. "Go, we need to get out of here now!" he yelled to her and pointed down a hallway. Onika looked over to see men sprinting away. "Go!" Green shouted again. Ka'on didn't hesitate this time.

Once she reached the men, she found herself in a stampede of clones running for their lives. Many of them were covered in orange dust, some sporting blood and obviously broken limbs. Ka'on shuddered at the condition of the men and continued running.

The ceiling above them was cracking just as the room was, small rocks falling down and banging against the clone armor. A couple rocks hit Onika as she ran, causing her to shield her face with her hands.

* * *

"We made it out eventually," the woman said as the Chancellor sipped from the cup on his desk. He mumbled positively and encouraged her to continue. The Knight sat down in a chair on the other side of the politician's desk, her face sullen.

"Many of the men who stayed behind to set the charges also found their way, but," she stopped to take a breath, "A lot of those men were crushed to death. Apparently the army spent an entire day trying to dig out their bodies." Onika recalled the mangled corpses and shivered. Her sheltered Jedi training did not include war and mass death. Yoda had taught her to shut those types of things out, but not how to handle the aftermath.

The young woman didn't even want to relive through story telling of what she saw in the aftermath of Geonosis. She didn't need to. Palpatine could see a change in her. The battle had both matured and scarred the Knight.

"If you wish to remain with this battalion, I can make arrangements."

Onika nodded her thanks and folded her hands in her lap. "I feel it is my responsibility to improve myself and make it up to those I disappointed," she said, giving the Chancellor a half smile. He returned the face, "You mean the commander?"

Ka'on chuckled slightly, "I'm not too sure he and I will ever see eye to eye. But the others who helped me, I wish to protect them as they did me."

"You have grown so much, Onika," Palpatine said, "Into a mature, headstrong young woman. I know you will do many great things as their General."

The Jedi bowed her head and stood to take her leave. "I will try my best." Before the Knight could turn and exit the room, the Chancellor handed her his datapad. She gripped onto it, and he slowly let it go.

"A little information on the battalion you'll be leading," he said casually, then lowered his voice, "Do take care with the clone commander." Onika felt suspicion arise within her at the older man's words and raised a brow in question. Palpatine gestured to the device and sat back in his chair, "On your way now. You have a lot of reading to do."

With an uneasy feeling, Ka'on bowed to the Chancellor and headed for the door. On her way, she glanced down on the datapad and flipped through the files. The woman's heart stopped when she reached the door. On the screen was a profile picture of the commander without his helmet. He appeared as the other clones, though had the startings of a beard and a scar running down his cheek. What caught Onika off guard was the transparent stamp over the picture.

_Blacklist_.

A/n: Sorry for the delayed post. Been busy with work and applying for college. Also hit some writer's block for the scene with Green. Let me know what you guys think and if you read this story in the past, how you like the backstory to why Green and Onika (previously Oni) hate each other. Thanks for reading!


	3. 3: Haunting Memories

a/n: Overhauled and rewritten on 2/24/2020 for continuity purposes and to give more backstory on Aloke Tano. [Ah-low-kee Tah-no]

Chapter Three: Haunting Memories

Onika sat up sharply in her bed with a cry. The window shades cast the soft morning light onto her face. She blinked rapidly at this before her watery vision adjusted. Quickly rubbing the tears from her face, the Jedi Knight got up from the bed roll and walked to the window. She opened the shades fully, revealing the bustling city life below. Ka'on stared for a few moments to remind herself she was no longer in the nightmare.

Reading the classified files on the 66th commander and preparing herself for her debrief with the Jedi Council made the night terrors worse. Instead of just seeing dead clones in the catacombs, last night Onika saw Younglings and clone cadets fallen beside them. Amongst all of them was Green, covered in blood and staring at her hauntingly. Thinking about it sent goosebumps and shivers down the young Jedi's spine. She stepped away from the window and began getting dressed for her meeting.

Onika's room was very simple. A bed roll and pillow by the back right corner, a large window with a nice view of the city, a trunk and a small desk and chair by the door was all she really had to her name. The Order allowed letters and candles, which Onika kept in her trunk. Beyond that, her life as a Jedi was very minimalistic and bland. They did receive an allowance of sorts for small things or furniture if they wished, but Ka'on followed her old master's advice to only have what you need.

As the woman sat down in her chair to lace her boots, she glanced over at the desk. On it was the datapad the Chancellor had given her. It was off, but the Jedi could only think about the last report she had read on there. In all honesty, she didn't know if she pitied the commander or found herself more scared of him. It definitely made her view of the Kaminoans a negative one.

There were still dozens of files that even the Chancellor couldn't unlock for her...or didn't want to. And based on what Onika had already discovered, she was aghast of what could possibly be worse.

The Knight finished braiding her hair and adjusting her tunic as her commlink beeped. Knowing it was the Council summoning her, Onika attached her lightsabers to her belt and walked out of the room. She pressed on her commlink and brought it up closer to her face. "Yes, Master?" the young woman inquired, feeling Mace Windu's presence through the Force.

A second later, the rough Jedi's voice came through: "Onika, you are needed in the Council chambers." He was blunt and monotone. Ka'on gulped at this, "Yes, Master. I will be right there." She received no response from the Jedi Master, who cut off the transmission.

The long walk from her chambers to the Council room was miserable. Being by herself left the Jedi with only her thoughts to keep her company. She wondered what the Council was going to think of her actions. She wondered how the men injured on Geonosis were doing. Above all, she wondered what other horrors she would see in this war. Onika could sense it was not going to be a quick skirmish, but likely years of drawn out war and death.

A flash of red came into Onika's view. The Jedi Knight jolted and nearly swung a clenched fist at the person. She felt panic that had built up within her in the days since Geonosis.

"Whoa, Oni," the person said with a bright laugh.

Onika recognized her childhood friend and relaxed somewhat. "Not funny Aloke," she grunted as her fellow Jedi brought her into a bear hug. The red-skinned Togruta released her and stood back, raising a white brow mark at Ka'on. Her baby blue eyes studied the human Knight curiously.

"Why are you so tense?" she asked, genuinely concerned. She fixed her uniform: a brown crop top shirt that revealed white markings on her skin, same color skirt with light beige leggings, and dark brown boots. She sported a double-sided lightsaber attached to a simple leather belt. Her montrals were about six inches tall and her head tails reached her waistband.

"Geonosis," Onika said quietly, folding her arms over her chest and looking away. She received a sympathetic look from Aloke, who placed a hand on her friend's left arm. "Try not to let it control you, Onika," the Padawan said, "It was just one mission."

Aloke earned herself a glare at her words. The Knight scoffed and turned away, pulling from her friend's grip. She thought of how much more she'll be seeing now that Palpatine assigned her to Green's battalion. True, she had asked to stay there for familiarity, but heavy action was likely a consequence.

"It still haunts me."

The Togruta nodded and came back into Onika's view. "I know," she said plainly, "I'll never forget the things I saw either, but we can't let it consume us." Aloke sighed and looked to the ground momentarily, her eyes going sullen. She met Onika's gaze again and forced an optimistic smile. "If we made it through what the Council used to make us do," both women seemed to flinch at this, "Then we can survive this war."

Ka'on worked her jaw and shrugged. "We were never trained to lead on the battlefield like this, Aloke," she paused to gesture towards the massive hallway they were stopped in, "Yoda and Kit trained us to guard this place and teach Younglings for the rest of our lives, not win a war."

Tano nodded at this and folded her arms. "I can't really argue you on that one," was her barely audible response. She pondered for a second before a smile pushed its way onto the Togruta's face. "Just stick by that commander of yours and you'll be fine."

Onika stared daggers into her friend. Aloke smirked when she saw the hue of Ka'on's eyes change as she grew agitated. A chuckle came out after the Knight said this, "I swear that man took on Jango's spirit after Windu killed him."

"He does seem to take a liking to you," Tano teased, "Captain Ace told me all about Green's rant on your actions. Or lack thereof."

Onika rolled her eyes and huffed. Before she could make some smart remark about the angry clone commander, her wrist comm started beeping. The Council must be rather impatient today.

"I have to go," Ka'on groaned after checking the device, "Or else I'll be in more trouble than I already am." The last sentence was said sarcastically, putting a smile on Aloke's face. She gave Onika a quick, tight hug before lightly pushing her down the hallway. "Good luck!"

"Thank you," the Knight said before rushing her pace to the Council chambers. She wished she had more time to sit and talk with Aloke.

The two have known each other since they were three years old. They were put into the same clan and trained somewhat closely during their Padawan years. Kit Fisto, who had brought Aloke to the Temple, was chosen to be her Master. Since Kit was trained by Master Yoda, Onika's teacher, the two girls were trained in very similar methods and situations. However, it seemed Aloke was having a much easier time adapting to war than Onika.

The door to the Council room was already open, allowing Onika to walk right in. The only Masters present were Yoda, Windu, and Obi-Wan. Onika assumed all others were busy with the war preparations or teaching. Most of the Jedi were spread across the galaxy, leaving only a few in the Temple. In addition to that, the Order lost hundreds of Jedi during the battle of Geonosis.

Ka'on reached the middle of the room promptly. The three Masters stopped their conversation to face her as she bowed. Obi-Wan, who was not yet an official member of the Jedi Council, but the kindest, spoke first. "Good morning, Onika," he said with a welcoming smile. Yoda and Windu remained stoic, but bowed their heads in greeting her. Ka'on returned Obi-Wan's smile. "Good morning, Masters." She tried her hardest to mask her nervousness.

"Dark, your report of Geonosis was," Yoda said, looking up at his most recently graduated apprentice. Ka'on had only just passed the Trials a few weeks before Geonosis. She had passed them effortlessly, earning the title of Knight, but Yoda feared this war would be another Great Trial his former apprentice would have to pass for herself.

"Worried, we all are." Kenobi's smile faded into a grim look. The young Knight kept a calm face, though it took a great effort. "Yes, Master," she paused, "I saw a lot of bloodshed and death on my mission. Something I have never really seen before."

Windu hummed. "The clones were created to fight this war. Their deaths are an inevitable part of it unfortunately," he stated. Judging by the grimace on Obi-Wan's face, Onika gauged that he did not like the statement anymore than she did. She did not respond to Windu's statement and looked to Yoda. The centuries-old Jedi Master always knew what his former Padawan was thinking. He saw her anger towards the Republic and the Kaminoans.

"Come to peace with it, you must," Yoda said, finally breaking eye contact. He foresaw that she would never truly do that, however. He looked to Windu before turning his head back to Ka'on.

"The Chancellor mentioned your interest in leading the 66th," Windu spoke, "Considering your breakdown during the mission, do you believe this is the wisest course of action?"

Onika cleared her throat and glanced away, pondering a response. When she felt confident enough, she met the Masters' gazes. "I feel a pull by the Force towards these men," she said, "On Geonosis, despite the resistance I received from their leader, I felt an odd connection to the Force through them."

Yoda and Windu stared at each for a moment. Ka'on suddenly felt self conscious. Her words were true. There was something about the battalion that intrigued and drew her in; she felt a need to protect them.

"Do you feel as though the Force is telling you to lead them?" Kenobi asked, also puzzled. Onika quickly nodded at this, thankful Obi-Wan understood. "Then lead them, you must," Yoda said. Windu gave him an unsteady face before turning to Onika. "Very well, Onika," he stated, "The 66th has been assigned to destroy a droid factory on Talravin. You have one week to prepare yourself for this mission."

The Knight held back a smile and bowed to the Masters, feeling her anxiety fade away. "Thank you," she said graciously. The Council supporting her choices was something very rare during her training.

As soon as they dismissed her, Onika walked briskly out of the chambers. She had a warm feeling at the Council accepting her request.

And she didn't know why…


	4. 4: First Day

a/n: Edited 1/2/2020 for continuity purposes. To make Commander Green more aloof and aligned with his loyalty to Mandalorian traditions, I made it so he rarely takes his helmet off around people. Not to the extreme like The Mandalorian, but that he only takes it off around people he is close to. Enjoy reading...

Chapter Four: First day

Commander Green stood by the holo table in the bridge. In his right hand he held a datapad with outlines of their upcoming mission. Clones sat at their duty stations around him as he studied the details. Captain Lucas was by his side, gazing at schematics of a droid factory they stole from the Geonosian compound. A cup of caf sat next to him. He was humming in thought and typing notes onto his own datapad.

Both men didn't respond when the blast doors opened, as troopers had been coming and going all day. However, when they heard the sound of a female clearing her throat, they glanced up. Lucas choked on air while Green stopped mid-motion of scrolling through documents. The latter glared at the woman and the captain looked dumbfounded.

Onika tried her best to appear confident by resting her hands on her hips. She raised a brow at the two men, who still had said nothing. The other troopers going about their duties paid her no mind, zeroed in on their tasks. One pushed passed her, excusing himself. Ka'on gave a small, victorious smile, as it was a sign the men were starting to acknowledge her existence.

Green set down his datapad, proceeding to lean back against the holotable. The man crossed his arms and kept his silence. But, Onika could feel the irritation radiating off of him like a musk. That soulless visor pierced into her like a needle, and she found herself entranced by it. Onika knew there were two green eyes underneath staring back at her.

She had been curious as to why he got the nickname 'Green', but a quick glance at his profile picture had cleared that up. He was part of an experimental batch that adjusted certain things about Fett's genetics. Eye color, muscle mass, and a few others led to a bulkier clone model with green eyes. Ka'on realized she was staring at the man while glossing over his files in her head. He seemed to be studying her back, taking note of her new appearance.

Lucas was standing there watching the two...watch each other. He didn't know if it was appropriate to laugh or be scared. It was more likely that he would have to put himself between them again.

Onika was the first to break eye contact so she could look at the factory schematics. Nodding towards the screen, Ka'on peered at the captain. "That's the factory we're destroying?" she asked, finally cracking the awkward silence. Though, Green was still staring at the Jedi Knight.

"Uh," Lucas stuttered, looking to the table, "Yeah." He still couldn't fathom that Onika was on the bridge with them. Why is she here? Was she going to go with them? Why was she wearing armor?

Ka'on guessed correctly that was what the captain was wondering. She glanced down at her apparel for a moment.

The Jedi Council had issued her battle armor that hadn't been worn by the Jedi for centuries. The plates were greenish-silver and covered her chest, back, forearms, thighs, groin and calves. Over the groin piece was a canvas belt with many pouches and her two blades. The calf plates formed boots as well. Underneath the armor was a black bodysuit covering her from neck to toe, the fingertips of the suit cut off. Over everything was her Jedi robe.

Onika stepped closer to the hologram, taking in how massive the factory was. She ignored Green's glare, but was aware of him staring daggers into her. Lucas could tell the commander was not happy and had no clue how to approach it. Last time he stepped in between the two he nearly got punched, as Green later told him.

"We'll be attacking in one week," the captain added, fake coughing to grasp Green's attention. He shot Lucas a quick look of annoyance before continuing to bore a hole in Onika's head. The captain didn't need to see his brother's face to know he was enraged. They believed Onika joining them on the Geonosis mission was a one and done deal.

"I know," the Knight responded, "Master Yoda hopes that's long enough for me to catch up on the details and procedures of your battalion." She squinted at the table before sharply turning her head to look up at Green. The man was much taller than her, both having to crane their necks to see the other. He did not flinch at her gaze and increased the intensity of his own. She felt that through the Force. It was odd how a faceless mask could portray so much hatred.

"Would it be?" Onika asked casually, her eyes provoking. It was uncharacteristic of her to be snarky, but this man brought out a sassy side in the young Knight. She sensed her old self rising up from the depths, the old self the Council tried for years to reform.

Green found her new sense of confidence both amusing and irritating. Something about it lit a fire inside of the commander that he couldn't explain, and that infuriated him.

"Maybe," was his bland response before picking up the datapad. He never broke eye contact while handing the device to Onika. At first she kept the stare, wanting to challenge him, but her better nature got to her first and she looked down. On the screen was a very detailed attack plan and timeline. Ka'on was intimidated by the amount of military language and abbreviations.

"If you can memorize that in a week," Green paused to give his eyes a break from glaring, "You'll be fine." Nothing about his tone of voice gave away hatred or annoyance. Lucas exhaled in relief and went back to his work. He had been holding his breath in preparation for a fight based on Green's attitude. Thankfully, the commander held himself back.

Onika nodded her understanding and looked from Green to the datapad a couple times.

"Keep it," he said, "I already memorized it last night." This earned him a raised brow and a scoff from the Jedi. She turned off the device and began looking around the bridge. Green turned to read Lucas's notes over his shoulder. "You should take her on a tour of the ship," he said.

Lucas peered at his brother with a shocked look. "You're okay with her staying?" he whispered. Green shrugged. "As long as she stays out of my way and does her job, I don't care," was the response.

Ka'on heard the conversation, but put it on the back burner. She knew it was going to take awhile to earn the commander's respect and trust. Lucas already seemed to like her somewhat and protected her from Green's harshness, so she decided to just follow his lead.

"I would like a tour," she said, rejoining the men. Lucas pushed his datapad into Green's chest with a bright smile. The commander's emerald eyes blazed with indignation under his helmet as he grabbed the rectangular piece of metal. "Fek me," he muttered angrily under his breath as the two walked off the bridge.

Onika appreciated how much more calming Lucas was to be around than his superior officer. He definitely had a roughness to him, but didn't utilize it nearly to the extent Green did. The hatred for Jedi was common amongst this battalion, except for a few open-minded clones. Able to read people's outward thoughts, Ka'on had heard plenty of Mando'a insults thrown her way.

As they walked down a hallway, Ka'on gestured to the datapad in her hand. "Any way I can learn all of your terms in the next week," she inquired somewhat sarcastically. Jedi picked up on things pretty easily, and if she put in enough effort, she knew she could do it.

Lucas blew a breath and grunted. "It'll be quite a task, but I'm sure you're up to it. I've got a lot on my plate at the moment, so I'll introduce you to a couple guys who can teach you some things."

"Thank you, captain," Onika said. The man laughed and rolled his eyes playfully. "We're not the most formal battalion out there. Just call me Lucas unless I'm in trouble." Onika smirked at him and chuckled.

"I'm going to warn you, commander," the man said after a moment of silence, "The men are gonna be rather harsh to you at first. We've spent years training together and newcomers will take some time to adjust to. Especially Jedi."

Ka'on hummed in understanding. "I know I'll have to prove myself as their general before they trust me," she said seriously. Lucas seemed to twitch for a second and looked over at the woman as they continued walking down a series of hallways. "You're our general?" he asked in disbelief.

Onika nodded and threw him a smile. "The Chancellor promoted me to general," she answered. The captain gulped and looked forward. "Green's gonna have a field day," stated Lucas. The Knight noticed this and said, "Don't worry captain, I won't be giving any orders or taking point until I know what I am doing. For now I'm just an observer."

Lucas laughed. "We'll see about that."

After nearly an hour of touring the ship, Onika felt more comfortable in her skin. Lucas made sure she was educated on all the major areas of the ship and assured the Jedi she would have time in the next week to explore the rest. They visited the mess hall, barracks, engineering bay, and both hangars. Nearly everywhere they went, Onika received odd looks from the clone troopers. It was as if she were a foreign creature invading their territory. Some did salute her, however, and address her as "ma'am".

The captain pushed a button to a room and ushered the woman in. Onika looked around and found herself in what seemed to be a recreational room of sorts. There were quite a few clones utilizing game tables and gym equipment. At first, Ka'on was uneasy with the amount of shirtless men around her. Many of them were drenched in sweat and wearing clothes obviously fitted for physical training.

A couple clones stopped working out and stared at Onika. They began nudging other clones, who quickly spread word. A few smirked the general's way and chuckled. Having a woman in the room while they worked out was very fascinating to them. Ka'on tried her best to ignore the whistles and comments directed her way.

"This is the rec room," Lucas spoke casually, walking in front of Onika towards a table. She analyzed the group sitting there. Five clones without helmets were sitting on rounded benches next to the table playing some sort of cards. They were chatting amongst themselves until the captain reached them. The one in green armor, which Onika remembered to be a sergeant, cleared his throat and stood to salute the officer.

Quickly the other four dropped their hands and raised up from their seats. Lucas dipped his head to acknowledge them and gestured back to the table. "At ease, boys," he said, turning to Onika, "I wanted to introduce our new general to you all." They all sat down slowly.

The sergeant, with his unusual blue eyes, scoffed and smirked behind his cards. Another clone, with a tattoo above his left eye that said "domino", shrugged and nodded his head in acceptance. The other three looked shocked.

Ka'on had no clue how to respond and looked to Lucas for help. He smiled at her and clapped the sergeant on the shoulder plate. "Green needs you guys to catch her up to speed," when he received a discouraged look, he added, "Just give her the rundown of how we operate, our lingo. Hand signals, everything."

The green-striped clone exhaled in exasperation and made a mini salute. "Sir, yes, sir," was his less-than enthusiastic response. Onika inwardly cringed, feeling like a burden.

Lucas glanced around and frowned. "Where's Tag?" he asked. The tattooed clone waved in the air dismissively, "Oh, you know, Tag being Tag." One of the three clones, who bore a red cross on his shoulder-plate, spoke, "He's cleaning his weapon back in the barracks. Said he didn't feel like playing cards."

The captain was satisfied with the answer and pivoted to leave. He stopped to rest a hand on Onika's shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile. "Don't take them too seriously," was all he said before departing. The Knight pressed her lips together in a thin line and turned to the men.

At first, they all just stared at her curiously, as if they were reading her. A few awkward moments had passed when the sergeant patted the seat next to him. Onika sat down, grateful to have broken the air.

"Captain Lucas said I'll be following you guys around for the next couple missions," she said. The tattooed clone smirked, "Nicceeee." He crossed his arms and leaned onto the table, "You got the fun squad, general."

One of the other two plain-armored clones chuckled and rolled his eyes. Onika noticed that he had a scar running up his neck. "Shut up, Domino," he said playfully. The man Ka'on guessed was Domino shot squinted eyes to the scarred clone. "Watch it, Harper. I still outrank you."

Harper again rolled his eyes, this time more dramatically. Domino raised his brows and nearly stood up before the sergeant whistled. Onika had to hold back a laugh as the two clones looked to him like children caught stealing.

"Enough, boys," the green-armored clone stated, annoyed, "Let's be good role models for, uhhhh?" He looked to the Knight. She blinked a couple times before realizing he didn't know her name. "Onika," her voice came out nervously, "Onika Ka'on."

"Fancy," the man next to Harper said sarcastically. His brother nudged him with a warning glare.

Domino gave Onika a real smile. "You looked pretty badass with your swords out there." He pointed to the weapons on her belt. "Thank you," was her response. The clone with a cross, which by this point Ka'on assumed to be the medic of the squad, grunted in agreement. "We thought you weren't gonna last too long until you started swinging those things around. Pretty impressive."

The Jedi Knight could already tell she liked these men. They were a little rough, but much more accepting of her than their commander.

"We train for years in lightsaber combat," Onika stated, looking at the medic, "But unfortunately they don't teach us very much about war or the battlefield." Her last statement was said with a regretful tone. Domino huffed, "Oh, we can tell." She glanced at him with embarrassment, her cheeks turning a slight shade of pink.

"Ease up on her, corporal," said the sergeant, "It's not her fault she wasn't bred for combat like you." Domino nodded and sent an apologetic look Ka'on's way.

"Whoops," the officer groaned, "I forgot to introduce everyone." Onika brightened up at this.

The sergeant pointed to the man sitting to his right, "This is Private Ghost, our heavy gunner." Ghost dipped his head to the general with a smile. "That's Harper, our loudmouth."

"Hey!" the aforementioned clone frowned when Ghost bumped him and laughed. Onika smirked and giggled.

"Right there, that's Corporal Red, our medic," said the sergeant. Red waved to Onika in greeting. She cast him a grin and then turned to Domino, who was peeking at Red's cards. The medic slapped his hand away and dinged him on the head.

"Corporal Domino, my second-in-command and trickster of the group."

The Knight turned expectantly to the sergeant for his introduction. He finished glaring at Domino and looked to her. "And I'm their babysitter, Grayson. Pleasure to meet you, General Ka'on." The woman looked around to see all the men giving her welcoming smiles at Grayson's words. She bowed her head to the group and said, "The pleasure is all mine. I look forward to learning from you."

"Uh, you forgot someone, sarge," Domino said, holding up a finger. Grayson had an 'oh, crap' look on his face and tilted his head towards the empty space on Domino's right. "Private Tag decided not to join us today, but you'll be meeting him soon. He's our best shot and sniper."

"We lost three of our squadmates on Geonosis," Red spoke, "Tag didn't take it too well." The memory of the many dead men came back to Onika, and she looked away. "I don't blame him," was all she muttered.

"He was close with his caller, Jay," Domino added, "Poor man got crushed to death trying to escape the collapse." Harper nodded and put his cards on the table, "So did Dalton. He was helping carry out his partner Devin, who was shot pretty bad. He didn't make it either."

Onika could feel their mood shift through the Force. Even though they didn't seem to be grieving, internally they were mourning their brothers. The Knight assumed the Kaminoans trained them to internalized grief to avoid distracting them in battle. It was very similar to how the Jedi teach their own to not dwell on death and accept it as reality.

"I'm so very sorry for your losses," the young woman spoke, "I've dealt with loss in my life, but I could never fathom losing so many brothers." Grayson scoffed, "I guess we'll have to get used to it. It's what we're bred for."

"We're meant to be expendable, general," said Domino. Harper hummed in agreement, as did Ghost. Red had an indifferent look, as did Onika. She frowned and shook her head. "Not in my eyes. You're all unique and just as worth any other life, not just some copy of another man."

The troopers all looked around at each other, a few shocked. Grayson even looked unbelieving at her, all harshness gone from his face. Ka'on was scared for a moment, thinking she had said something offensive. Her heartbeat increased until Domino spoke up with a smile. His voice was truly genuine, no trace of his 'trickster' ways. "I like her."

Ghost grinned as well and prodded the sergeant with his elbow. "Looks like Green was wrong about this one, huh?"

Grayson smirked and peeked at Onika, "Yeah, you'll do pretty alright here, Onika." The Knight smiled back and felt her fear of rejection go away. Despite all the resistance she received in the beginning, she could sense these clones would be family to her. And she will do anything to keep them safe.

Later that night, Captain Lucas returned to the bridge after completing his duties for the day. He wasn't surprised to find the commander still hard at work finalizing the details for next week's mission. Everyone else had gone to their quarters since the ship was still landed on Coruscant and did not require a crew all day.

The commander had another round of caf sitting on the holotable, as well as an empty tray of food from the mess hall. However, the man had his helmet on as per usual. Green was very in tune with his Mandalorian heritage. He chose not to remove his helmet unless absolutely necessary or around people he trusted.

"You ever going to sleep, sir?" the captain asked with a chuckle. He received a groan from Green, who banged his fist on the holotable in frustration. "Intelligence just pulled the 3rd Artillery Battalion to join the occupation on Geonosis," the commander said.

"You're kidding me," Lucas growled and walked briskly towards the holo table. He wondered how they would re-organize their men to attack the factory with half the numbers. "How do they expect us to succeed?" asked the captain.

"I don't know," Green grunted, "I'm trying to get them to at least spare the Krayt Company to boost our numbers." He stood up straight and cracked his neck with a roll of his shoulders. The man's mouth twitched as he felt all the knots in his back that have been there for weeks. Green then met Lucas's gaze.

"No luck so far," he said. His second-in-command rolled his eyes and kicked the holo table. "Fierfek!"

"In that case," Green started, "That Jedi better be extra ready for this mission." He turned back to the table and examined the factory outline, looking for ways to cut corners. A couple minutes went by and the commander found the silence odd. He felt his brother was thinking about something. Without looking at Lucas, he uttered, "What is it?"

"She's getting along with the men pretty well," Lucas answered, "And catching on quick." Green shrugged nonchalantly and continued his work. He felt a wave of annoyance wash over when the captain leaned on the edge of the table right next to him. "What?!" he barked.

Lucas chuckled darkly and shoved Green's shoulder. "Just admit you were wrong, brother." The commander ignored him and turned to his datapad. The captain knew this was Green's way of coping with failure or misjudgement: by locking himself up so it doesn't get to him. Ever since they had started training together as teenagers, Lucas has been able to tell what Green was thinking.

"The boys like her," the brown-eyed clone stated, "Helps that she's good-looking." At his words, Green glanced at him for a second, not saying anything. Lucas raised his brows and beamed like a devil. "No," he dragged out.

Immediately Green got in his brother's face. When Lucas jabbed a finger at his chestplate, the commander grasped it harshly, giving him a death stare. "You like her," his vod said tauntingly, "You fekking like her!"

"Stop that," Green yelled, trying to push away Lucas's accusing finger. But the captain merely took a step back and kept pointing at him. "That's why you're such an ass to her!" he said.

The commander shook his head and frowned at Lucas. "I don't know where you're getting all this from, you di'kut!," he shouted, "You're the one who said she was attractive, not me!" He walked away and turned his back on his brother. Green exhaled tiredly and leaned down to put his helmet in his right hand.

Lucas was not moved. He simply leaned against the holo table and crossed his arms. "Sure," said the clone, sarcastically. Green spun around and once again delved himself in his work. "Fek off," he whispered.

"It's normal, Green," Lucas said more seriously, "To have feelings." He received no reply and decided not to press his brother too much. However, he was relieved at the prospect that Green just liked Onika and didn't know how to express it, rather than him hating her. The latter option would make the war much more difficult for everyone.

"I'll go show the Jedi to her quarters," stated Lucas. Green mumbled in acknowledgement. Before the captain left, he said, "I'll give her the room next to yours, just in case."

Green flipped around, ready to grab Lucas by the neck. The latter got into a defensive stance. The blast door opened, causing both of them to straighten up.

A blue-armored clone walked onto the bridge. He saw Lucas and Green standing there as if they were afraid of someone walking in. The man was wearing his helmet, but the officers could hear the curiosity in his voice when he said, "Everything okay, commander?"

Green nodded and composed himself. "What do you need, lieutenant?" His brother handed over a datapad and tapped it lightly. "The inventory report you wanted, sir," he answered. The commander placed the device on the holo table next to his own. "Thank you, Vy."

"Oh," Vy paused on his way out, "That new general is pretty good." Green rolled his eyes when his back was turned to the lieutenant. Lucas hummed in encouragement for Vy to continue. He obliged and gestured to the droid factory layout. "She's catching on pretty quick. Caught her studying the layout during rec time."

"Shit," Lucas smirked, "Good for her." No reply from the commander, as he was trying to refocus onto something else.

Vy looked at Green and then nodded to the captain in respect. "I'll be off then, boys." As he walked away, the second-in-command bid him goodnight and pardoned it to Green as well.

"Still giving her the room next to you."

Alpha-3 made a fist and slammed it onto the table once Lucas was out of the room. He buried his head into his arms on the table. "Why me," he asked the universe.


	5. 5: Not Good Enough

a/n: Edited 1/2/2020 for continuity purposes. Had to edit for the same reasons listed in the previous chapter. Enjoy reading...

Chapter Five: Not Good Enough

The alarm clock next to Onika's bed started blaring, immediately waking up the Jedi Knight. She sat up groggily, one eye open. Slowly, the woman rolled over in her bed to reach the annoying piece of technology. After slamming it off, Onika slid back onto the bed, now caught in the sheets from rolling. The sweet temptation of sleep seized her.

A loud, obnoxious knocking on her door scared her half to death. The Jedi found herself fighting the sheets that trapped her as the banging continued a couple seconds later.

"Coming!" she shouted in an attempt at silencing her visitor.

Ka'on jumped out of the bed and scurried towards the door in the darkness, almost tripping over her armor. She had forgotten to lay her clothes out in a nice manner the night before, as she was exhausted from the previous day. In her laziness, Onika threw on a shirt and shorts she found in one of the drawers. It was meant for a clone, so it was very loose and baggy on her.

Pressing on the panel to open the door, Onika leaned on the frame. She was met with the black visor of the commander looking down on her. Startled, she stepped back and held back a frown.

Green looked the woman up and down. He then handed over a water bottle without saying anything. Again he inspected her attire, tilting his head to the side. Onika felt uncomfortable and looked behind him. She was always amazed at how his gaze could feel like a fire burning into her.

"Do you have PT clothes?" he asked suddenly.

Ka'on rose an eyebrow at him and pressed her lips together. "Um," she stuttered, glancing back into the room, "All I have is the armor and bodysuit." She hadn't found the need to bring her old tunic and heeled leather boots, as the Knight didn't have a bag to travel with.

"Not gonna cut it," said Green, "You can wear that for now but we need to get you appropriate attire." Onika huffed and tapped the water bottle against the doorframe. She was about to ask where she can get it, but the commander was already taking his leave.

"Wait," she called out, "When's PT?" Green stopped and looked over his shoulder, anger coming off of him. "Now," he said. Taking one last look at the woman, Green faced forward and continued walking away.

Onika groaned and rushed back into her room, slamming the button to close the door. Once it slid in place, the Jedi threw off the shirt and shorts. She slipped on the bodysuit of her armor, leaving the pieces in a pile on the bed. With haste, Onika pulled on the boots of the armor. They covered her calves up to her knees. Since she didn't have any other shoes, she would have to lug around in these. Grabbing the water bottle again, Onika hurried to the door. She had no idea what she was about to endure, but guessed it was going to be trifling.

Two hours later, the Jedi found herself sitting against an ammunition crate, barely able to breathe. She chugged down water from the bottle and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Her Jedi training had included a lot of physical activity, but nowhere near as intense as the 66th's regime.

The battalion met in the portside hangar bay of the cruiser. After a lengthy session of stretching, the men started out their workout with laps around the hangar. The cruiser was a Venator-class star destroyer, so a lap around the hangar was equivalent to half a mile.

Green had them run eight laps. Eight. And that was just the warmup.

Onika was a fit Jedi, so the running did not sway her. However, the intense, repetitive body-weight exercises started taking their toll on her.

Green had put her with Grayson's squad again. During the training, he kept his distance from the team, probably to ignore Onika. Every now and then he would stop by and critique her form or effort, but leave the rest of the squad alone. Ka'on did not allow this to get to her and continued working out regardless, putting every ounce of her being into keeping up with the clones.

Grayson was firm yet encouraging to her, motivating her where Green was demeaning. It gave Onika the boost she needed to get past the commander's harsh words and lack of belief in her. The rest of the squad was equally supportive of her, having bonded with her the previous day while training her.

One clone slumped down next to Onika, drenched in sweat. He was far less affected by the workout than she was, as he was used to it. Taking a glance at the general, he smirked. "Halfway done," his teasing tone came out. Ka'on groaned and looked to the clone. She had not met this clone before. Despite them looking identical on the outside, each clone had a unique Force signature that radiated a different personality from others. His signature was familiar.

The clone held out his hand to shake, the first time any of the clones had shown her such respect. It was a move that meant more to Onika than the man possibly knew, due to her heritage.

Onika gradually made her way to return the gesture. The man gave her a crisp shake and took another swig of his water. "Private Tag," he introduced himself. Ka'on nodded with a smile. She didn't have the chance to meet Tag yesterday, as he was off completing other duties away from his squad. "Nice to meet you," Onika said, "I'm Onika."

The Jedi took a moment to study his face. He had the normal haircut and shaved face. No scars or tattoos to tell him apart from the clone model. Everything about him was the spitting image of Jango Fett. However, when Onika looked into his eyes, she saw a softness that she hadn't seen before in the others. It was warm and friendly, bearing none of the commander's resentment for her.

"Oh we've met before, ma'am," he said.

When the man received a look prodding explanation, he obliged, "I was the clone who walked with you off the gunship...and talked to you after the explosion." The Knight's eyes opened wide with realization. "I never got to thank you for that," she exclaimed, "You almost got shot snapping me out of it."

Tag shrugged and sent a half-smile her way. "Just doing my job, ma'am."

"I owe you one," Onika said seriously, taking a sip of her water. Tag chuckled in response and gestured towards the commander. "You two make a fine pair," he said with sarcasm. Ka'on's expression fell at this. She knew the clone was joking, but still felt as though she could be doing something about her relationship with the commander. It seemed as though he just hated Jedi. Whether or not Onika could change that was a mystery to the young Knight.

Green called everyone back into formation. This time, instead of Onika standing amongst the men, the commander had the general up in front with himself and Lucas. After explaining a series of exercise stations, he sent the battalion off into their platoons. Each platoon would complete an exercise before the allotted time was up, and the battalion would rotate stations.

Onika stood with Green and Lucas, watching the men hurry to their tasks. When the battalion was in place, Lucas blew the whistle and the exercises began. He then turned to the general. After glancing past her, the captain smirked.

Ka'on felt someone staring at her and looked to see Green peering down at her.

Onika was curious as to why Green was the only one bearing all of his armor. It was as though he didn't want to show his face. Besides the profile photo on his file, the Knight had never seen the man's face before. It made him all the more aloof and mysterious.

"Feeling like death?" he asked blandly. Onika shrugged and clutched her water bottle. "Haven't passed out yet," was her answer. She said it without sarcasm or taunting, more as a statement. Green just looked at her for a moment before turning to Lucas. "We have a call with Captain Ash," he spoke, "Think you can handle this?"

Lucas looked to his vod, confused. "'We'?" he asked with a brow. Green nodded towards Onika and said, "I'm bringing her with me in case the details of the operation change." Both the captain and the Knight seemed surprised at Green's willingness to have Onika around. The Jedi suspected he didn't want to have to explain the plan to her a second time, like how he said on Geonosis. And, since she was technically the general in charge of the operation, Captain Ash might find it weird that Onika wasn't present for the meeting.

The walk to the bridge was very tense and quiet. Green had taken them back to the Admiral's hallway so she could get showered and changed. That's when Onika realized Green was her neighbor, as he stood by his door. He told her he wanted to leave in five minutes, and leaned against his door.

Showering did barely anything, as Ka'on still had to pull the same bodysuit on that she worked out in. The woman made a mental note to buy workout clothes the next time she was on Coruscant.

When she left her room, she found Green leaning against the wall outside her door. He had his arms folded over his chest in impatience. Onika sighed, feeling inferior. Even though she tried to rush as much as possible, her efforts seemed to annoy him. Without saying anything, the commander tilted his head down the hallway. Onika followed meekly behind him, not engaging in conversation.

Green could feel the tensity as well. Ever since Lucas made the accusation that he fancied the general, he couldn't stop thinking about it. It enraged him that his vod would even think of such a thing. Elite clones, especially one as himself, were trained not to focus on those types of feelings. The Kaminoans encouraged him to express anger and violence, not attraction. It's not that he was incapable of havings those emotions, but Green simply didn't know how to express them. Anything that was foreign to his training, he faced with anger and resentment. It's what kept him alive through his brutal childhood.

Before the commander knew it, he and the general stepped through the blast doors onto the bridge. The area was inhabited by around a dozen clones in blue uniforms as well as two captains standing next to the holotable. They were conversing with another red-armored clone via hologram.

Onika was reminded of the amount of men under her command. Not only did the ship house her battalion, but thousands of clone troopers who served as the crew to maintain the cruiser. In addition to the 66th, the Akul was also home to the 3rd Artillery, 2nd Assault, and 57th Aviation battalions. All in all, around eight thousand clone troopers were on this ship with her. The fact that one day she alone would be left to make decisions affecting all of those lives scared her.

Both of the clone officers turned on their heels and saluted the commander and Jedi. Green nodded to them and waved the woman over. Onika stood at his side, crossing her arms to try and appear more confident.

Green cleared his throat. Ka'on looked to him, only to find that he was seemingly staring off into nothing. "Boys this is Jedi General Onika Ka'on," he said, pausing as the captains all muttered "ma'am" in greeting. The Jedi returned their acknowledgements with a dip of her head in respect. Green inhaled sharply at this. For why, Onika did not know.

"General," the man said her title for the first time, startling her, "This is Captain Skye, captain of Shadow Company." The captain closest to Green's right nodded. "Captain Shark, from Raider Company." The clone to Skye's right smiled. He had his helmet off, letting Onika see a realistic tattoo of a shark on his neck. The captain also sported a very short buzz cut.

"And Captain Ash," Green said, "He's in charge of Krayt Company from the 3rd Artillery Battalion." The man mentioned gave a crisp, military nod to Onika. She could sense he was more of the strict-rule-follower-type. According to Domino, many of the men under Commander Rook of the 3rd adopted this mentality. It was a valuable trait to the army, but apparently very annoying to their brother's in the 66th, who were more free-spirited and aggressive like Green.

Done with introductions, the commander started punching in codes on the holotable. Ash's form was moved to stand amongst them, while a model of the droid factory was displayed on the table. Onika stepped closer, gazing at the three-dimensional picture. She had spent much of her free time the day before studying the layout of the factory and the battle plan Green had constructed.

"With the other three companies of the 3rd Artillery pulled from the operation," Green started, "We'll have to make adjustments to the raid."

Onika stepped to the side to let the experts figure things out. She didn't feel like giving her input, as she felt too inexperienced to do so.

"Five companies instead of eight," Skye spoke with a smirk, "Intel really fucked us this time." Ka'on blinked a few times at the profanity. She had heard the men use Mandalorian curse words before, so she was starting to get used to it. It made her wonder if she was going to start cussing as well. The Jedi taught against such vulgar language.

Green seemed unphased, per usual, at his subordinate's speech. "They sure did," was his monotone reply. Shark narrowed his gaze at the droid factory. "We were going to have two companies attack all four sides at the same time. Maybe we can split up the fifth company by platoons."

Shark hummed, "I'll be fine with my company splitting up if needed."

The commander shook his head in disagreement. "Your company's specialty is raiding with full force. That talent will be wasted on the east and west sides of the factory where Phantom and Shadow will be, respectively."

Skye grunted in conclusion with Green. "Our best bet is to split the Wrecker Company. They have the lowest numbers, so they can just boost the other companies," the captain of Shadow Company stated. His superior officer slowly dipped his head after looking at the hologram for a moment. "Lucas is taking over as their captain as well until we get a replacement for Duncan," he said. Onika felt unnerved by this, as she was reminded of how many men died during the first battle of the war. It wasn't just privates that died, but high ranking officers as well.

The Jedi Knight was suddenly pulled back to the present when Green spoke to her.

"General, you'll be going with Phantom Company still," he said, "That part of the plan won't change. But, you'll probably have to head the company now that we have less men and Lucas will be busy." The Jedi gulped at this, not too sure she was remotely ready. Onika had less than a week to memorize lingo and codes just to be able to follow Grayson and his squad around, let alone lead a company and a half of men.

Ka'on simply nodded her acknowledgement and said nothing. Green cocked a brow at her under his visor before turning back to the captains. "Time of breach will still be the same," he continued, "And your objectives will still be the same. The hard part is completing them within the timeframe the GAR has given us. They're going to blow up that factory whether or not we get out."

"After we disable their shields, right?" Ash asked in confirmation. "Correct," Green replied, "Which is Phantom's job. Shadow is in charge of intel retrieval. Raider will be distracting the droids at the main entrance. Krayt, from the back to confuse the droids. And Wrecker adding to their numbers."

"Any questions?"

The Jedi quickly went over all of the information on the operation in her head, trying to find any areas that she wanted clarification on.

"Will the 57th still be providing air support during the attack?" Onika asked while staring at the factory schematics. In the battle plan Green had given her, while the ground assault battalions were focused on the factory, the aviation battalion would be in the air taking down any enemy fighters. Due to the large Separatist presence on Talravin, it would be likely that they would encounter other starships packed with vulture droids.

Captain Skye seemed impressed by the Jedi's comprehension of the plans. He smiled at her before glancing at Green. "So the Jedi does have a brain for battle," he joked. The commander groaned at him in warning, causing the captain to bite back a retort. Ka'on found herself smirking at all of this. She assumed Green must have been bad-mouthing either her intellect or Jedi in general, which was now backfiring on him.

"They will," came Green's nonchalant answer, "Their job is to keep the Seppies occupied while we do our job." Onika nodded her understanding and continued, "And evac us once the charges are set?"

Skye chuckled and Shark gave a grin. Captain Ash remained quiet, as he has been the entire meeting. "Te jetiise kar'taylir cuun joha," (The Jedi knows our language) Shark spoke in the deep, guttural accent of Mando'a. Onika's lips twitched a faint smile, but she did not allow herself to react to the statement. The woman played as if she were completely oblivious to the language.

Green scoffed in amusement before responding to his brother, "Su nayc jate luubid." (Still not good enough)

Ka'on looked between them and then to Skye, who seemed to think she was confused. He coughed dramatically and waved his hand at the holotable. "I think we're good, commander," he said, "No more questions."

"I'm good," Shark spoke as he inspected his twin blasters.

Ash dipped his head, "As am I."

Green sighed and looked to the factory. "Dismissed," was all he said. He received three salutes before the two captains took their leave to join Lucas in the hangar, and Ash cut the transmission. This left Green and Onika standing on the bridge, surrounded by crew, but still alone. The Jedi eyed the commander, waiting for him to say something rude or condescending to her. To her expectations, he looked down on her and through the Force she sensed his disdain. "You should probably head to chow and continue preparing for the mission," he said, "Not doing much good just standing around." With that, Green walked off the bridge.

Onika huffed and rolled her eyes. "Shabuir." (Jerk)


	6. 6: The Commander

Chapter Six: The Commander

(Green's POV)

The red sand was getting rather annoying, as it found its way into very uncomfortable places. Training simulations were very accurate, but actually feeling the environment was another thing. My bodysuit clung to my skin from the sweat, another annoying feeling.

I put that part of my senses on the backburner as I stepped onto the gunship. Lucas and a private from the first platoon joined me. The captain had saved the private's squad from an ambush during the initial ground assault on Geonosis. Unfortunately, we lost a lot of men during that fight.

Lucas strode up next to me, gripping one of the handles. He seemed to be fixated on something to my left. As I turned my head, I found myself confused.

A short human female, obviously a Jedi, walked towards us. Her hair was blowing randomly in the harsh winds, but I could see through it to her brown eyes and bright smile. She was conversing with a knee-high alien Jedi limping beside her. From what I heard, that was the leader of the Jedi Order. Who the woman was, I did not know.

I felt the captain nudge my arm. Without a response from me, he said, "That must be our new boss." I scoffed in disbelief at his comment. The idea of a Jedi with no military training being in charge of our orders made me sick. They had no place in a warzone with all of their peace-loving propaganda and anti-war sentiment. And by taking a look at this woman, Jango was right: they are unfit for battle. The girl was dressed in some weird tunic, no armor or helmet.

She had the most innocent look to her. It was disheartening, but at the same time, I found it...intriguing. All of the other Jedi were reserved and emotionless. This one looked cheerful, not devoid of enthusiasm. I almost pity her, because I know what she is about to do will probably wipe that smile off her face for good. It might even knock the Jedi brainwashing right out of her head.

To my dismay, the Jedi waltzed into the gunship, albeit looking terrified. Where was that happiness I saw a minute ago? She grasped onto a handle and looked out to the Geonosian sands. Her Jedi senses must have told her I was staring, as she glanced over her shoulder at me. I continued looking, observing how her eyes flashed in fear at me. She is entitled to do so, as I was built by the Kaminoans to be a destructive killing machine. But why was she so scared? Had she not looked around and spotted the million other men identical to me?

The Jedi was the first to break contact, quickly glancing away. Lack of confidence, I thought. It'll easily get her killed in this war. She better grow a spine, if her Jedi conscious would allow her. Oh, why do I care?

When the gunship lurched as it took off, I couldn't help but laugh to myself. The Jedi clutched onto the safety handle for dear life, a look of terror plastered on her face. Lucas just about reached out to balance her, but she managed herself. I was surprised that she didn't fall off the ship and get a mouth full of sand. That would have been entertaining.

I found myself glancing at her every now and then until we reached the rendezvous point. There was something about this Jedi that I couldn't put my finger on. An odd feeling I had surged through me ever since she walked aboard the gunship.

All of the gunships landed in a circle in the middle of a mountainous valley. We were some miles from the compound to give us the element of surprise.

As the men gathered into the valley, taking count of ammo, I pulled everyone into a large huddle to do a pre-mission briefing. We had already gone over the plan on the cruiser multiple times, but I am quite thorough and picky about my missions. Lucas handed me a holo transmitter to display the compound schematics.

The mission was this: cross the valley, get through the catacombs to the compound, break in, steal intelligence, blow it up, and get out. We were likely to lose quite a few men, but I can't do it any other way without aborting the mission. I've already disobeyed the GAR enough. More trouble and they might recondition me.

It wouldn't be a problem to me, but the men I lead would suffer as well. The officers that follow my command would be court martialed and receive a new commander who might not have their best interests in mind.

It is my purpose to look out for my brothers.

The Jedi finally made her way off the gunship. Tag was walking her up to the group like she was a lost puppy. Quite a few of the men checked out from my speech and turned to look at her. I could already predict their comments. My HUD was flooded with chuckles and jabs at her looks. None of us have met another human female beyond our Mandalorian mentors, but they didn't need to be distracted by her. This better not be a problem.

The Jedi, whose name I still had not gained, glanced around, obviously confused as to what we were discussing. Our helmets were soundproof and everyone was speaking through the HUD system. She probably wouldn't like what they were saying anyways.

I looked at her for a moment, the men's comments getting to me. Quickly, I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind and continued going over details. Once I was through, I dismissed the entire group off into their squads.

Captain Lucas and the lieutenants stuck by my side. Sergeant Dillon remained in the group as well, as he'll most likely be promoted to lieutenant of 3rd Platoon. We lost Lieutenant Finn in the initial ground assault. We lost a lot, actually.

Tag nudged the Jedi our way, much to my dismay. I liked it better when she kept her distance. That weird feeling I had on the gunship was still there, and got stronger every step she took towards us.

"Finally joining the party, commander?" I heard Captain Lucas say. He definitely did not have the disdain for Jedi that I was raised with. The boys laughed, but I remained quiet. Though, when Lieutenant Tyler said, "I'll hit that if she survives the mission," I couldn't help but grunt to myself. She is an absolute distraction that I do not need at the moment.

Lucas conversed with her, giving a quick rundown of the mission after dismissing the other officers. Great, now it was just the three of us standing together. Her presence was like a glowing hot energy, full of warmth that I did not like. It almost felt like...a pull. I was tempted to step back a few feet, but drawn closer to her at the same time. What kind of Jedi magic was this? Was she casting some sort of spell on us?

She was looking off at the men, studying them. I glared down at her, trying to think of every negative thing Jango told me about her kind. Maybe that will help rid of this weird feeling I was experiencing. Anger and aggression was my forte, so I'll use it to repel her Jedi sorcery, or whatever this is.

The Jedi looked to me, probably feeling me staring into her soul. I felt a small amount of uncharacteristic regret when she seemed to be intimidated by me. Good, she should be. I mustered my anger together in one sentence: "Any questions, Jedi?"

Lucas called my name out through our private channel, not agreeing with my attitude. He received no reply on my end. The man knew of my lack of trust in the Jedi Order, so he shouldn't be shocked by this.

I was a little surprised when I saw resentment in the woman's eyes. Wasn't it against their precious code to show emotion or anger? Regardless, she stood there with eyes narrowed at me like a child throwing a temper tantrum. After a moment, I was content that I had established our boundaries. "Good," I said with a deep voice, "I don't want to brief anyone a second time."

I grabbed my blaster for familiarity and started walking away. Listening for her footsteps, I was annoyed at a lack of crunching sand. I stopped abruptly and glared at her over my shoulder. Today was not a good time to babysit. If her damned Jedi Order didn't prepare them to fight, why did they send her at all? She'll just be a nuisance to me and my team.

"Are you waiting for me to hold your hand or what?" That'll be the fucking day that I have to drag a grown Jedi around because she can't go anywhere without someone guiding her. She lost her pouty face and replaced it with reluctance.

Lucas stepped in between the two of us. He made some comment about taking the Jedi with his team. I wasn't entirely listening to him because I was too focused on how irritated I was. Why was he protecting her?

With a shrug of my shoulders, I took my leave and headed towards Team 2. Better Lucas having to deal with her than me.

The raid went less smoothly than I had planned. Team 1 took a considerably longer amount of time to reach the communications center. However, that time was made up for in the lack of Geonosian warriors. GAR had anticipated at least a thousand if not more bugs to be occupying the structure based on the size of the catacombs. It seemed as though they had re-focused their forces to other parts of the warzone; if not, they didn't expect anyone to come near this place.

In the initial breach from both ends of the compound, Team 1 got nearly overrun by warriors. Sergeant Grayson contacted me saying there was some sort of delay in getting everyone into the base. What that delay was, I wasn't entirely sure.

My team was the first to arrive in the communications center. We made quick work of the remaining bugs trying to wipe the database. They didn't get very far, so we were likely to gain a lot of intel from this raid.

I oversaw the intel download into the Republic military database. With nearly twenty computers in a massive room, it was going to take some time before we finished and evacuated. Meanwhile, the other officers were securing both entry-exit points to the compound in case the bugs called for backup. The compound was under our control.

Lucas told me what happened with the Jedi commander. Apparently, she froze after the breach explosion. A few of the men stuck behind to keep an eye on her, as was protocol. We don't leave anyone on their own, even Jedi. Her little incident nearly gave the bugs an advantage on that portion of the compound while the men were occupied with her.

I was angry. She could have gotten a significant portion of my brothers killed. And the Jedi want to lead in this war?

"Commander Ka'on," Lucas said from behind me. I gripped the rim of the holotable hard. The anger I felt pulsated so quickly I turned my head to make a comment, but as soon as she came into view, I felt that warmth again. It was as though it neutralized my disdain for her. I had to turn away from that. The blue visuals on the holotable regained my attention. I tried to focus, but ended up listening to their conversation.

"The breach went better than expected," the captain spoke. I turned around at this, glaring at him through my visor. He knew I was not happy with what happened on his team.

Looking down, I saw the Jedi squeezing her eyes shut. She looked almost regretful and sad. Not in a pouty way, but as if she was contemplating something. Her eyes slowly opened to stare back into my helmet. Once the woman, who Lucas told me was named Onika Ka'on, fully processed my glare, she returned it. So the Jedi finally found her balls. With a brave face, she tilted her head up and challenged me.

I was feeling a mix of emotions from this. Mostly it was rage. Rage that she had the nerve to stand up to me. And the weirdest was attraction; her sudden burst of courage was actually attractive. An emotion the Kaminoans never encouraged or brought up in training, it was foreign and gut-wrenching. I knew what it was, but wasn't comfortable with it, as I had never really felt it before.

It frustrated me to feel that kind of way towards her, because at the moment I wanted to hate her.

"Success aside," I barked, "We don't need any weakness on this battalion." I was about to continue before Lucas stepped in front of me. He grabbed my shoulder and tried to move me away from the Jedi but I wasn't having it. After pushing away his hand, I jabbed a finger in Onika's direction.

He was my vod, but I swear if he defends Ka'on one more time I will punch him. "She needs to hear this, Lucas," I said, "Her little panic attack nearly cost us this mission." Lucas completely blocked her from my view, getting up face to face with me. Not as a challenge, but to speak with me brother to brother. In training, he always kept me in check and balanced my anger when it wasn't necessary.

Lucas turned on our private HUD channel: "It wasn't that bad, Green. Besides, she hasn't been trained for this kind of stuff."

I let out a rough sigh and folded my arms over my chest. In a softer voice, I spoke, "Then she should have stayed behind. We don't have time to babysit." I received a shake of the head from my second-in-command. He glanced back at the Jedi and I had half a mind to move him out of the way.

I didn't have to, as Lucas voluntarily stepped away. "Just give her a chance," he said out loud for Onika to hear. Seeing the look on her face made me cringe. The woman looked as though she could cry any second. I didn't want that. I felt pity for her, which I also didn't want. All of these mixed emotions brought back the frustration.

I groaned and looked up to the ceiling as if it would give me a brief moment of relief from my current situation. I leaned down to meet the Jedi face to face, earning a warning sound from Lucas. I ignored it.

The Jedi's spirit returned and she taunted me with those mesmerizing amber eyes of hers. She knew I saw it as a challenge and made that face intentionally. Before I could wipe that look off her face, one of the men cried out.

"Earthquake!"

Oh, of course! What else could go wrong today?

Everyone ran for cover and I found myself gazing back up at the ceiling. Cracks were forming in the orange formations. Large chunks of earth started to come loose. One massive piece looked as though it was about to fall. Calculating where it would land brought me to the Jedi huddled on the ground. Without a second thought, I slammed my body into hers. The sound of the rock crashing next to us registered in my ears a split second later.

My HUD began alerting me to several calls coming in from my men. It looked as though this was happening all across the compound. I realized the catacombs were likely collapsing and we needed to move quickly and get out of here.

I glanced at the Jedi pinned underneath me. She was also gazing up at me, confused as to why I did that. Truth be told, I didn't know either. All I did know was that she needed to get on her feet and run. As I rolled off of her, Onika stayed on the ground. My hand gripped the neck of her tunic and I hoisted her up with one hand. Once her feet were on the ground, I let go and started shoving her towards the door.

The Jedi kept hesitating and endangering herself. I continued ushering her away, barking at her to run out of this place with the others. If we didn't evacuate soon, this whole place will come down on top of us.

"How much do we have downloaded, Elliot?" I called out to one of the men. He glanced at the computer next to him. "Ninety-seven percent, sir!"

"That's good enough," I said, "Get the hell out of here!" As I gripped onto the Jedi's shoulder, I placed her in the doorframe. She still wasn't listening to me as far as running away, so I might as well have her stand out of my way. "Stay here," I ordered.

I began getting everyone out of the room as the ceiling continued to crumble. Looking over my shoulder, I saw the Jedi standing there in shock. I glanced back at the men, who were finishing up the download and putting their equipment back on their belts. With urgency, we all started running for the door. When I reached Onika, I told her to run and shoved her into the hallway.

The woman hesitated at first, but started sprinting moments later. I waited for my brothers to exit so that I would be the last to get out. All the while I kept my eyes on the Jedi, making sure she got out safely.

a/n: A little bonus chapter to show Green's perspective on the Geonosis raid and to show off his "charming" personality. I might do more chapters like this sporadically throughout the series, if you guys like it. The next chapter will be back to normal. Thanks for reading!


	7. 7: Preparing for Battle

a/n: So this chapter skips ahead a bit. Don't worry, there will be flashbacks to previous missions throughout this series of chapters. My writer's block led me to skip ahead a few months of the war. If I had written everything out, it would have been redundant and not fun to write XD. I really hope you guys like this chapter, as I believe it lets the main characters shine.

Chapter Seven: Preparing for Battle

The Clone War has now stretched on for three grueling months. What the Republic hoped to be a swift victory was now predicted to be a long and miserable warfront. Many systems continue to swear allegiance to Count Dooku and his droid army, while the Senate has ordered the creation of countless more clone troopers. The Jedi Order is now spread thin across the galaxy, limiting their resources and ability to protect Coruscant.

Most of the Jedi have not been trained for war on this scale. Lightsaber skills and minimum Force manipulation is the core of a Jedi's life-long training, as there has not been a major conflict in many years. Surely, "peacekeepers" should not be leading armies.

However, one such peacekeeper has strived to prove herself a worthy warrior in battle. Over the last several months, she passionately studied military protocol and battle strategies with her troopers. Despite lack of confidence from her second-in-command, the 66th Army Battalion has come to respect their general more. The clones have taught their leader everything they can, now they look to her for guidance.

The upcoming battle will test Onika like none before. She has only led the men once before, and that was whilst shadowing Commander Green, who called most of the shots. All of their previous assignments have either been infiltration missions or attacking Federation starships. Now Onika and her crew are assigned to join Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi and the 212th on a full fledged space and ground assault on Lothal.

Intelligence shows that the CIS has created a massive radio tower in the capital of Lothal City. Due to massive amounts of droid dropships traveling to and from the planet, the Republic believes there might be a droid factory somewhere in the city. The thinking is that the radio tower is transmitting information from the factory to the blockade in orbit. First, the combined forces must break through that blockade, and then mass a large assault on the capital and destroy the factory.

The plan seemed simple enough, but was likely to result in mass casualties. Unfortunately, this was far too common in the war. The Jedi General had been contemplating this for days as she dreaded their upcoming deployment.

Onika looked on as the gunships were being prepped for the attack. Fuel hoses were filling up the tanks, pilots were checking their throttles, and weapons were being loaded onto the bays. The Jedi directed traffic and made sure every gunship was outfitted, albeit under the watchful eye of the commander.

Even though Green didn't formally outrank Onika, she respected his experience and allowed him to guide her. Though, with Grayson's squad recognizing her abilities and treating her as their superior, the Knight was beginning to feel more confident in herself and relying less on Green's orders. She knew that in the coming battle it would be her that would make the tough decisions, not Green.

The ARC commander stood by Onika, arms crossed. He was mainly supervising her, making corrections as needed, but allowing her to do her job. Following the advice of Lucas, Green was making an effort to be less hostile towards the woman. He couldn't find it in himself to completely accept her, but his attitude has significantly changed in the last three months. The duo still argue constantly during battle and rarely agree on anything, something Green wishes he could fix.

Green liked when Onika was brave and determined, like she was during the infiltration mission on Talravin months ago. It was then that he saw that flicker of potential in her. For a short period of time, the Knight was so in tune with battle that she easily cut droid after droid so gracefully; she even seemed to get a little aggressive. Lucas warned him against encouraging such behavior, as it goes against the Jedi Code, which could in turn get Onika in quite the load of trouble. But Green saw it as keeping her safe. If she would just let that Jedi peace bullcrap go a little, Onika might amount to something.

Beyond their required work schedule, Green tried to avoid Onika as much as possible. If she sat down at the officer's table in the mess hall, he would leave. He got up early enough in the morning that he would not bump into her, and by the time she was done with her Council meetings or meditations, he was already in bed. He knew he had to stay away from her because of what Lucas said. It hung in his thoughts any time she was around, and part of him wondered if it was true.

Green noticed Onika step away from him to help pick up blaster charges after a crate was knocked over. She hadn't even hesitated for a second to rush to the corporal's aid in putting the ammo back together. He admired that in the Jedi and had to shake that nagging thought in the back of his head that the captain might be right. It couldn't be. It was allowed to be. Hell, he has never let her see him without his helmet on. Green stuck to a tradition to never remove his helmet in front of someone he didn't trust. And if he didn't trust Onika, surely there would be no reason for him to be attracted to her, right?

Onika returned from her self-imposed task and seemingly looked to Green expectantly. He didn't know if she was asking him to praise her, because that was definitely not going to happen. He was too embarrassed by his own thoughts to say anything that might make her look good.

The Jedi looked down at her wrist and noted the time. "It's almost 1400," she said, glancing back up at the commander's visor. Her amber eyes pierced into his own, yet were soft and warm. She held no trace of resentment towards him, only calm. Green found himself lost in those brown orbs, not sure what he was doing. He continued to stare one, from curiosity, and two, because the woman hadn't prompted a response from him.

Onika got the hint that Green was not going to say anything back, so she said, "I'm going to take a quick lunch break. Will you be alright holding the fort for me?"

The commander tilted his head at her, wondering how she could still be so sweet towards him despite all of their previous head-butting encounters. Any normal person would be quite harsh towards him by now. Green didn't want to return the kindness. No matter how he felt about her, the man knew he had to maintain a distant, working relationship between them so Lucas could not win.

"I wouldn't be much use if I couldn't," was his blunt response. Onika blinked a few times and straightened out at his harshness. Any anger was internalized as she dipped her head in acknowledgement and walked away. Green ground his teeth together as he watched her go, wishing he didn't have to act like this. But, for the sake of his sanity and pride, he had to.

Onika rubbed the sides of her arms and tried not to shiver. It was so cold out in space. Yet, it seemed not as cold as the commander's treatment of her. The Knight felt defeated, as though nothing she tried worked to build a friendly relationship between the two. Most of the other clones have come to accept her, so why didn't he?

The walk to the mess hall was not cold for too long. About halfway there, Onika was startled when someone came up to her side and bumped into her. In her contemplations, Ka'on failed to sense Tag approaching her. His presence immediately brought a smile to the young Jedi's face. "Where are we going?" he asked.

Onika chuckled and shoved Tag away about a foot. "The mess hall. Did you guys finish fueling the walkers?" The clone nodded his helmet and reached up to take it off. "Grayson sent us on an hour break. Then we're going to do inventory for the company." He had a passive look on his face that Onika mimicked.

The Jedi Knight took in Tag's new armor. The 66th was transitioning to the new Phase I armor. It differed in that the battalion was allowed to choose their own colors and markings to make them unique on the battlefield. The 501st Legion had chosen a rather distinctive blue color and vertical stripes while the 212th chose a dusty yellow and broad markings. When deciding what their color should be, Lucas and the other officers had asked Onika what she had in mind. The Knight felt very honored to even have her opinion considered.

Ka'on played off her choice of emerald green as a joking homage to her own lightsabers; yet, everyone knew she was referring to the commander, who remained silent at her suggestion. The vote was made and weeks later the battalion received their new shipment of armor and paint. Commander Ehn'eta proposed a wide stripe down the front of the helmet and armor, and solid color calf, forearm, and shoulder pieces. Everyone agreed on the scheme with the note that each clone could self-customize his armor to his own liking.

Tag chose to be quite unique by reversing the scheme. His armor had a white stripe going down the front and white calves, forearms, and shoulder plates. The corporal, as he was promoted to, also left a white logo of a sniper optic on his right thigh to signify his role as the squad's sharpshooter.

Onika was slightly disappointed that she could not match the battalion.

Ka'on sighed as she and Tag continued to walk down the series of hallways. "Well, looks like we're pretty much ready to go," her unenthusiastic tone was hard to miss. Per her upbringing, she was not a fan of war. Especially after the countless men she has seen die, the Jedi resented each battle more than the last.

Tag lightly smacked her right arm with the back of his gloved hand. "Hey, don't start doing that thing you do and get all gloomy." Onika's brows furrowed defensively and she peered at the clone with narrowed eyes. "What thing?"

"You start thinking about stuff too much and it gets to you," Tag answered, his friendly brown eyes turning a little dark. He continued, "I think you take the death toll personally and it's not healthy." His voice was neither accusatory or negative. Moreover, Tag was trying to placate Onika. In the past few months, he has come to view her as a sibling and often tries to mentor her where Green only sees fault in her.

"I know," Onika sighed once again, looking down at her feet. It was a delicate balance: being a Jedi on the side of preserving life whilst also not forming attachments. She harnessed compassion probably more than she should, leading to heartbreak whenever a trooper was injured or killed. A strength has also become her weakness.

"Come on, brighten up," Tag wrapped an arm around the Jedi's shoulders and shook her. This earned him an eyeroll and a shove from the Knight. Onika couldn't help but smirk at Tag's cheerfulness. Despite Tag's famous shooting skills in the battalion, he was one of the more quiet clones. It felt good to see him change from a reserved, shy clone to a laughing jokester, even if he was annoying at times.

Tag and Onika grabbed their food trays and sat down next to each other just down from the officer's table in the back right corner. Lieutenant Tyler of the second platoon and Commander Falcon of the 57th Eagle Battalion were sitting there. Falcon's battalion had chosen a light brown for their colors with a large triangle on the chest piece and vertical stripes going down the sides of their armor.

They each looked over to nod Onika's way. She returned with a gracious bow of her head before settling down to start eating.

"See? If they like you," Tag said between mouthfuls, "Then you're good." Onika peeked at the mentioned officers and gauged whether they could hear them or not. When she felt assured as Tyler and Falcon conversed with each other, Ka'on arched a brow. "Why's that?" she asked.

The young clone trooper finished swallowing his food and folded his hands in front of his face. Looking Onika in the eyes, Tag motioned his head towards the officers. "They're really hardass. Hard to impress and all that." Onika shrugged in acceptance and took a few bites before speaking.

"What about the commander?"

Tag eyed the Jedi for a moment. He had been witness to Green's treatment of the Knight multiple times and discouraged the way the ARCie perceived Onika. Tag knew the true Onika and saw her for the warrior and kind person she was. The man also knew who Green was and what the man had gone through. He sympathized with both of them.

"It'll take time," Tag said optimistically, "He's already starting to warm up to you." Onika nearly choked on her food as she laughed. "Are you serious?" she scoffed, "That man hates me!" Tag smirked at her and rolled his eyes. "True, but he hates you less."

Ka'on looked at him unamused. "Oh, I feel so much better," she said with a monotone sarcastic tone. She was hoping Tag had some sort of wisdom to pass on to her. Perhaps he could tell her how to get on the commander's good side. But, Onika feared that Green's personality clashed far too much with her own.

"I think it's more so that you hold yourself back in battle," said Tag. Ka'on looked at him, pondering in thought for a moment. Her brows furrowed in confusion somewhat as she tried to think of a reason why she was so timid in battle. "I am a Jedi," was her hesitant response, "I'm supposed to use restraint in battle." The corporal pursed his lips and shrugged lightly. "I wouldn't see it as excessive to do whatever I can to protect my brothers," he said genuinely, "But that's just me."

Onika seemed taken aback slightly as she processed his words. She hadn't thought about it that way. Maybe protecting the men to the best of her ability and following the Code could be done at the same time.

Her commlink beeped before she could say anything back to Tag. The Jedi huffed and activated it, already knowing who was calling her. "Yes, commander?" she prompted.

"General Kenobi is calling us from the Resolute, general."

Onika took a deep breath and turned to Tag. "Hold that thought," she said as she stood. The clone trooper sat up straight and gave her a big smile. "Good luck, general," he said, waving her on. Ka'on returned the grin and rushed out of the mess hall after dumping her tray.

Some time later, Onika found herself standing in front of the holotable as Kenobi delivered some bad news. Actually, it was just normal news at this point. It wasn't shocking to anyone, as this had happened quite a few times. War tended to turn guarantees into chances.

"Aloke's Delta Company won't be here until the 2nd Assault Battalion finishes their mission on Muunilinst," Obi-Wan stated with his usual calm and collected voice. Ka'on always admired how the Jedi Master was able to remain so stoic during rough times. She's seen him after he lost nearly a third of his troops still maintaining his demeanor during a Council meeting.

"Which could take awhile, I'm guessing," the young Jedi Knight said rhetorically. Her arms were crossed over her chest, much like Green's. They always stood in an off-putting, defensive stance when they were in the same room. And, mostly, ignored one another.

However, at the mention of the 2nd, which was led by Commander Ehn'eta, Onika noticed Green's posture tighten up. She had seen how close of brothers those two were, as they fought side by side on the battlefield of Muunilinst. Through the Force, Onika could sense it pained Green to leave his batchmate behind to an uncertain fate. With the war on Muunilinst growing more intense, Green's attitude has also gotten worse.

"The Council has ordered us to continue with the mission," Kenobi continued, his hands folded in front of him, "Aloke will meet up with us once she gets planet-side." Onika heard a light snort coming from the commander. She knew he would not be happy with this. "Very well, Master," Ka'on said in a voice that masked her nervousness.

Even if they had Aloke with them, their numbers may not be enough. Now, with an entire company out of the equation, things were not adding up very well for the 66th. The battalion was already recovering from heavy losses on Muunilinst during their rotation there. A fresh batch of troopers had barely arrived a week ago and were adjusting to the battalion's atmosphere.

Green's response to Onika's words was a death glare sent her way. While the woman was not looking at him, she could feel the sheer anger boiling underneath that helmet. It was like a very strong smell that filled the air and suffocated her. Ka'on had to swallow hard and try to avoid glancing the commander's way.

"Then I shall see you both tomorrow," Obi-Wan spoke. Onika forced herself to smile and bow her head, even though she wanted to frown and tell the Council they were wrong. Her grin faded when the blue hologram of the Jedi Master fizzled out and disappeared. Everything went quiet as it was just Onika and Green on the bridge. The Knight looked over her shoulder at the stars as the Akul floated in space.

Green took a large step towards her, frustration radiating off him like heat. When the Jedi refused to look at him, he leaned himself down so that he was in the corner of her view. Gripping onto the holotable harshly, the man cleared his throat to grab her attention. Onika flashed a defiant look towards the clone, her bright amber eyes a fiery golden hue from the overhead lights shining down on them. In an act that could have been deemed provocation, she pivoted her body so she fully faced him, arms crossed.

"Do you have any idea how many men we will lose?"

Onika worked her jaw at Green's deprecating tone. It frustrated her to no end that the man could not understand or accept that she had no choice in the matter. The Council's orders were law, and she made a pledge years ago to always faithfully follow any request the Jedi Order made for her. Regardless if she disagreed with their orders, which she did in this case, they had to be followed.

Ever since Onika was a toddler, when her father brought her to the Jedi Temple, she was taught absolute obedience to the Council. If you didn't obey, there were serious consequences, consequences that left Onika scarred.

"What other choice do we have?" Onika said through gritted teeth. Her second-in-command seemed to fire up even more at her question and leaned in closer. "Not sending our boys against thousands of droids that'll wipe them out. This droid factory is potentially three times as large as the one we barely defeated on Talravin." He backed off slightly and mimicked her body language of folding arms over the chest.

"And be court martialed for disobeying a direct order and abandoning the mission?" Onika pressed with an almost teasing tone. This clone really brought out the worst in her.

"Or you could call your precious Council and tell them to fuck off," Green growled back. At first, Onika thought he was being sarcastic, but the man was quite serious. He had a very distinct hatred of the Jedi Order and would probably give every single Jedi the middle finger if he had the chance. Jango's blood and spirit ran very strong within him.

"I'm sure you're just as obligated to follow Intel's orders as I am to follow my Master's," Onika said clearly. Green shook his head, "Intel doesn't force me to sacrifice my men." Ka'on rolled her eyes and looked away, wishing the man would just disappear. She tried to gather some Jedi calm and let his words affect her none whatsoever. "Like they nearly got us all killed on Geonosis?"

The commander got even closer, towering over the Knight. "They didn't know the catacombs would collapse," he spat, "But your people know that we will be heavily outnumbered and likely obliterated if that factory turns their production efforts on us."

"Or how about when Intel was going to blow up the factory on Talravin even if we were still in it?" Onika asked, now furious with Green's false claim. The man didn't back down, yet Ka'on could sense he was straining to gain the upper hand in their argument. "You just have something against the Order," Onika said in a quieter voice, "It's blocking you from seeing that I have to listen to what my Masters tell me to do."

"Would you still listen to them even if you knew they don't give a shit about us?" Green asked in a lower voice that was still very aggressive. Onika peeked at him from the corner of her eye before sighing and walking off the bridge. She was always told that the wiser person turns the cheek and walks away from a fight. In this instance, she felt like a coward.

Answering Green's question to herself, she wasn't sure. In the past few months she grew to disapprove of the Council's decisions. When they gave her orders that were not in the best interest of her troopers, she wanted to say no. But the Jedi had no choice regardless, and she wished Commander Green could see that.

The battalion was allowed some rec time before lights out. Most of the men spent their free time cleaning their weapons or playing cards. There wasn't much else to do anyway. Despite the lack of confidence in the mission due to low numbers, the men seemed pretty relaxed the night before a massive assault.

Onika was attempting to reach such levels of relaxation in her quarters. The Jedi was in a deep state of meditation when her stomach started growling. Slowly, the woman woke from her state and groaned as her eyes opened. She remembered that she hadn't really eaten all day, as Kenobi's call had interrupted lunch with Tag. Onika grabbed her lightsabers from the nightstand and attached the hilts to her belt.

As she walked down the halls towards the mess, the Jedi made a list in her head of what she needed to do to prepare for tomorrow. The order was: eat, take a shower, take one last review of the battle plans, try to get sleep, wake up by 0500. The ship will exit hyperspace around 0530, and the attack was scheduled for 0700. By then, she needs to make sure everyone is in their stations on the gunships and the assault craft is ready to go.

Onika had reviewed and studied the plans so many times she was sure she'd see them in her sleep for the next five years. It was already bad enough that she had nightmares about previous battles. She didn't need to be repeating battle plans along with them.

The mess hall was very busy. It felt as though the entire 66th battalion was trying to get a bite to eat before it closed. The Eagle battalion was also amongst them, as the 57th was assigned to lead the space battle over Lothal and transport the 66th to the surface.

Ka'on had to wait in a long line just to get a tray. Part of her regretted not coming earlier when most of the men were stuck in formation. Eventually, she got her meal and began the daunting task of finding a place to sit. Every table was pretty much chock full, with many men standing up against a wall while eating.

A waving hand caught the general's eye. She snapped her head in the direction of the officer's table, only to find Commander Falcon waving her over. The Jedi pushed her way to the table and nearly stopped in her tracks when she saw who was sitting there. Commander Falcon, Captain Lucas, Captain Shark, Lieutenant Tyler, and, of course, Commander Green were all scrunched up together.

Green, Shark, and Falcon sat on one side of the table, while Lucas and Tyler sat on the opposite. There was a spot between Lucas and Tyler, who had moved to make room for her. The Knight thanked them and squeezed right in after setting down her tray. "How's it going, general?" Lucas asked genuinely. Though, after his question, he gave Green an odd look. The commander, who was obviously finished with his meal and had his helmet on per usual, suddenly stood up with his tray and disappeared into the sea of clones.

Ka'on followed his form until it was gone, rejection flowing through her. She knew he left so that he wasn't around her, and it hurt. Tyler whistled awkwardly and Falcon chuckled as he leaned back with his arms over his chest. Lucas glared at them both and cleared his throat. The 2nd Platoon lieutenant nodded and the 57th commander shrugged, though kept a scarred-cheek smirk.

Onika was looking at her tray the whole time, not even noticing the silent language the clones were speaking. The fact that her men were aware of the hostility between her and Green made it all the more embarrassing. Shark's words barely balmed her pain.

"I think we'll be ready for tomorrow," he said, trying to make small talk with the Jedi. She seemed to react slightly, giving the Raider Company captain a weak dip of the head. Shark looked to Lucas, asking his brother for help in placating their superior officer. None of the men were experienced when it came to the emotions of women, but they were quick learners.

"Thanks to your help, we got all the gunships prepped ahead of schedule," the captain said, trying to prompt Onika to respond. She seemed perplexed at this, as if she couldn't have had that much of an impact. "Really?" the woman asked with a raised brow, locking eyes with Lucas. The neat-looking clone nodded his head.

Falcon also expressed his agreement. "My guys were able to get their checks done a lot quicker thanks to you," he said, sounding very grateful, "Never seen 'em work so hard." Shark laughed, "Te jetiise cuyir nadala, ibac cuyir tion'jor." (The Jedi is hot, that is why.) The men all laughed amusedly, Falcon shoving him slightly. Lucas peered at Onika, only to see her smirking. He knew she had picked up a few Mando'a curse words here and there, but had never really reacted when they spoke in their tongue.

"Cuyir ibac staabi?" (Is that right?)

Everyone froze at the table, as if time ceased. Even the men sitting around the table stopped and stared at the Jedi. Shark gulped and looked wide-eyed at his general, almost appearing fearful. Slowly, people returned to their conversations, albeit a little awkwardly. Ka'on continued to smirk at Shark, entertained by the horrified look on his face.

"I guess I never mentioned I speak Mando'a," Onika said sarcastically. Lucas's mouth twitched into a smile as he glanced at the Knight proudly. Shark's face grew flushed and he snapped his gaze away, embarrassed. Falcon bit his lip to keep himself from laughing, and Tyler's brow furrowed as he tried to calculate in his head how the general could possibly be speaking his brothers' language.

"It's all good Shark," Onika spoke kindly, earning a relieved look and smile from the captain. The woman peered at Lucas with an evil smirk. "I've heard Commander Green say far worse things about me." The man to her left scratched the back of his head nervously, not making eye contact with her. It was true, she had heard Green call her incompetent, useless, or even idiot.

"Well this is awkward," the commander spoke with a devilish grin, "Now we can't make fun of you anymore." Ka'on eyed him out with a playfully warning glare. "Only if you want a smack to the head, commander," she said, "Ni liser akaanir meh Ni copad." (I can fight if I want.)

This earned a few laughs from neighboring clones, who seemed impressed by her speech. Lucas shoved the Jedi in a brotherly way, slightly knocking down Tyler with her. The lieutenant gave his captain the middle finger and a pursed-lipped unamused glance. Onika pushed his hand away, knowing it would cause a scrap between the brothers. One thing she learned in the past couple months was that the clones, like any band of Mandos, liked to have little competitions here and there.

Lucas leaned down so that he could see Tyler past the general. Cupping his hand around the side of his mouth, the captain pointed to the woman and whispered to his subordinate, "She can fight."

Onika rolled her eyes and started eating her food. She didn't care that it was now a bit cold. The Jedi was feeling very welcomed at the moment and enjoyed her troopers' company. Her evening was spent joking and talking about anything and everything with the officers. Ka'on felt as though she was starting to really get to know the men under her charge. It had taken them a couple months to accept her fully, but now they admired her and showed her respect.

By the time the conversations began to dry out, the mess hall was nearly empty and most of the clones had long gone to bed. Commander Falcon and Lieutenant Tyler excused themselves first, the latter giving Ka'on a fist-bump before he departed. Soon after, Captain Shark took his leave and bid the last two a good night. This left Onika and Lucas alone.

The captain offered to walk Onika back to her quarters, which she accepted gratefully. Once they had walked out of the mess hall, the man turned to the Jedi will a puzzled look. "When did you learn to speak Mando'a? Do they teach it at your Temple?" he asked.

Ka'on smiled and shook her head. "Oh, no," she paused to laugh, "The Jedi Order and the old warrior Mandalorians have been at odds for centuries. I was always discouraged from speaking it." After a moment, Onika glanced over to see the captain confused, prodding her for more information.

"My father was a Mandalorian bounty hunter," she explained, earning a surprised face, "Got some girl pregnant when he was 17. She didn't want me." The last sentence was spoken slower and with a hint of hurt in the tone. Lucas cupped her shoulder, encouraging her to go on with a sympathetic smile.

"After that, he tried to raise me on his own," Onika said after taking a deep breath, "But having to take dangerous jobs and raising a Force-sensitive child didn't really mix well. By the time I was three, my dad had to take me to the Temple for my safety."

Ka'on stared off into the distance as two decades of memories began washing over her. Some good, most bad. It was only when the familiar corridor of the Admiral's hallway reached her view did the Jedi speak again. Facing her captain, the woman said, "I don't really want anyone to know this, especially Green."

Lucas tilted his head to the side, giving her a raised brow. "Wouldn't that help you two get along?" he asked. Onika huffed in contemplation and looked away. "Maybe, but I don't want him to use it against me," she whispered.

"Very well," the clone said, holding out his arm, "It's between us."

Onika smiled wide and grasped his forearm, and he hers. It was a traditional Mandalorian hand shake that meant a lot to Ka'on. The gesture was an absolute show of respect from one Mando to another. Lucas had been her first vod within the battalion, and Onika was glad she could finally return that respect back to him.

The two parted ways and Onika stepped into her quarters. Glancing around at her minimalistic room, the Knight sat down on her nicely made bed and started taking off her boots. Tomorrow was going to be one hell of a fight. But the young Jedi was confident that with brothers like Lucas, Tag, and Grayson's squad by her side, she will do her best. And even, as Tag put it, do what she has to do to keep her brothers safe.


	8. 8: Going Down

_a/n: Thank you all for the lovely reviews! They are much appreciated :). I really hope you guys like this chapter and new arc in the story. Fair warning that this one might get a little gruesome. Enjoy reading and I hope you all are staying healthy and safe during this crazy time in our world! _

**Chapter Eight: Going Down**

General and commander stood side by side next to the holotable. Blue holograms of the Republic cruisers and the planet Lothal were displayed on the screen. Around the planet was a ring of Separatist blockade and capital ships. Ten _Venator_-class cruisers and three _Acclamator_-class transport ships faced twenty _Munificent_-class star frigates and ten _Providence_-class dreadnaughts. In addition, the blockade was made up of nearly a dozen Federation flagships that controlled the droid forces on the ground.

All in all, the odds were not in the Republic's favor in this fight. Even if the _Acclamator_ transports and gunships managed to get passed the blockade to drop off the thousands of clone troopers onboard, the CIS forces on the surface far outnumbered them. And the Jedi Council knew of this.

Onika stared blankly at the display in front of her, trying not to let her emotions overcome her. She allowed the commander to be angry for her. He stood next to her, arms crossed over his chest as per usual, the blue figures dancing across his visor. Beyond what was required of him to say, the man was dead silent today. Ka'on almost wished he would speak, even if to criticize her, as he was never _this_ quiet.

"We'll be exiting hyperspace in five minutes, general," a clone in a blue uniform spoke as he turned around in his chair. Ka'on glanced to her right at him with an acknowledging nod. The trooper faced his panel and continued working.

Onika licked her lips and rolled her shoulder slightly, feeling a few pops. Without turning to him, she said to Green, "Is everyone ready?" A large pause hung in the air for a moment. The Knight didn't know if the commander was brewing some harsh comment or ignoring her.

"And waiting," was his response. It was obvious the man was trying to speak as little as possible to her. For the past week or so, he had grown very irritated with her and her acceptance of the Council's wishes.

Ka'on kept her focus on the swirling blue of hyperspace, letting it put her into a trance. The next few minutes then went by like seconds. Onika barely registered the trooper announcing that they were leaving hyperspace. By this point in the war, she was unphased by the lurching of the ship as it snapped into the Lothal system.

Everything seemed to explode on the bridge. Troopers started walking back and forth, taking battle stations and preparing to engage enemy targets. Onika gripped the edge of the holotable, watching as their cruiser fizzled into view. They were the first ship to arrive.

Ka'on looked up to the viewport at the front of the bridge. Far ahead was Lothal and the band of Separatist ships. There was an apparent lack of Republic ships. Kenobi was the general in command of the other twelve ships and hadn't shown up yet, leaving the _Akul_ to face the entirety of the droid army alone. The Jedi felt her stomach drop as each second passed.

"Where are Kenobi's forces?" Onika called out to an armored clone sitting to Green's left. He pressed a few buttons before rotating his head towards the general. "They're a few minutes behind us, ma'am!" he said. Ka'on straightened up and frowned, "What?!"

Every minute they laid idle was another minute the CIS had to prepare for their attack. Kenobi was already supposed to be there, as his cruisers were supposed to distract the Separatist from the blockade runners and gunships.

"The Separatist ships are taking defensive positions!"

"Fuck," Onika muttered under her breath, her hand lightly punching the lip of the holotable. "Hold off until Kenobi's forces arrive!" Ka'on shouted. Green stood there, just staring her down without saying anything. He wanted so badly to remind her of the Jedi's failure during battle, but opted not to. For now.

Everyone stood at their positions and watched as the CIS scrambled in the distance, preparing for the fight. Their element of surprise had been squashed and now the battle was even more so in the favor of the Separatists. Onika felt resentment towards Kenobi building up within her. He had always been portrayed as a clear cut Jedi and cunning warrior, however he was very lacking in his punctuality.

The minutes it took the _Negotiator_ and the other eleven ships to exit hyperspace went on like hours. Ka'on felt that resentment wash away as the blue figure of General Obi-Wan Kenobi came before her.

"Master Kenobi," Onika said with a lack of enthusiasm. "The Separatists fleets are already well prepared for our attack," she declared. The Jedi Master seemed disparaged by this and stroked his beard. "Yes, well we were unable to get our fleet mobilized due to a delay in refueling."

Green scoffed a little louder than he should have. Obi-Wan raised a brow at the commander, who didn't respond, as he had nothing nice to say to the Jedi. Onika shot the man a warning glance before turning to Kenobi. She didn't want to hear Green's anti-Jedi sentiment or Kenobi's excuses.

"That doesn't matter. We need to attack them with everything we have if we stand a chance," Onika said with a firm tone. Green looked to her curiously whilst Kenobi seemed to be taken aback by her words. "Indeed," he agreed finally. Ka'on knew she would probably be scolded later on by Windu for the comment.

After an awkward silence, Kenobi bid them good luck and ended the transmission. None soon after the _Negotiator_ increased its speed towards the Separatist blockade, the possy of Republic transports tailing behind. Onika huffed and walked onto the main portion of the bridge. All the men looked to her as she came to a halt.

"Full speed ahead," was her calm order. Immediately the crew kicked into action. The _Akul_'s engines roared and the ship began to accelerate quickly to catch up with the _Negotiator_, passing several cruisers.

A few minutes burned before the fleet was within firing range of the blockade. A hail of red fire seared through space towards them, imploding on impact with the ships' shields. The _Akul _shook violently, causing many of the crew members to waver and clutch their stations. Onika braced one foot behind and bent her knees, keeping her balance.

"Increase power to the forward shields," she shouted over the sound of cannon fire, "All batteries fire at will!" Within seconds the shaking ceased and the transports began returning shots. Blue and red mixed together, exchanging back and forth.

"Vulture droids incoming!" a trooper shouted from behind Onika. She turned around to see Green standing by the clone, looking at the holotable. Sure enough, a horde of vulture droids were headed their way.

Ka'on looked to a clone sitting in the pit to her right. "Tell Falcon to take off with the distraction party," she commanded. He nodded her way and started passing the orders to the series of pilots waiting in the hangar bay.

Below, the hangar bay doors slid open, allowing dozens of fighters to join Kenobi's forces against the oncoming swarm. A flurry of cannon fire ignited the space between the Republic and Separatist fleets. Troopers called out commands and warnings as they monitored the battle, communicating with the pilots and other cruisers.

Onika watched anxiously as the intense battle ensued. Every time one of their own was shot down, the Jedi felt herself internally cringe at the loss. At first, it seemed as though the Republic was holding their own, cutting through the advancing vulture droids with minimal losses. However, the closer the cruisers got to the blockade, Ka'on soon realized that the Separatists were reserving their numbers until the Republic was right in front of them.

Looking between the different battles surging between the many ships, Onika saw that the Republic was starting to lose its aggressive front. One of the _Venator_-class cruisers protecting the three troop transports was slowing down as its shields were bombarded with cannon fire. Ka'on watched in terror as the cruiser stopped moving and a group of dreadnaughts increased their attack. She heard as one of the clones in front of her opened a transmission from that ship. The clone commander of that destroyer was shouting in a panic, "Are shields are failing! We have no-"

The line was cut as the cruiser suddenly imploded. Onika's head snapped to gaze at the dying explosions and floating debris. Her amber eyes were wide with fear and shock. She had no time to absorb all of it before the dreadnaughts turned their attention to the next ship.

"We need to get out of this now!" Onika heard Green declare from the back of the bridge. His words were true. If they didn't retreat now, they would easily be shot down one by one. Ka'on's heart continued to beat rapidly as another cruiser was decimated.

"General!" Green called out. The Jedi Knight turned to find that the commander was aggressively approaching her. But before he could reach her, the holotable came to life with the figure of Kenobi. "Onika! We need to get our troops on the surface immediately," he said with a more rushed tone than usual. Ka'on looked between him and Green nervously, not sure what to say at first.

"We will be shred to pieces if we do that," the Alpha-class clone seemed to read Onika's mind. She didn't know if she should follow the Jedi Master's path or Green's.

"We cannot retreat, Commander," Obi-Wan responded, "The people of Lothal need our assistance here and now." He paused for a moment to look at Onika, ignoring the heated stare from Green. "Onika, your ship is the farthest down the line, so you will make your attempt first while the rest of us try to distract the Separatists." His figure disappeared.

Ka'on meekly nodded her head in obedience, gluing her eyes to the floor out of shame. Green in turn craned his head to glower at her, a searing heat pulsating from his Force signature. Onika cringed from his aura and glanced at the multiple clones eyeing her. As Kenobi's ships began to split off in different directions, Onika's crew looked to her for their orders.

"Get us to the surface," she said hurriedly before bumping past Green.

The woman held onto the edge of the holotable as the ship jerked forward at a heightened speed. She felt the commander standing next to her, seething with rage. Onika focused for a split segment of time on the comm chatter between the 57th pilots. Many were being shot down or caught in the deadly grip of battle. The Jedi's eyes squeezed shut as they died defending the ship from enemy fire as it fled to the planet surface.

As the _Akul_ glided through space, tailed by the three troop transports, the Separatists must have realized the Republic's plan. Multiple dreadnaughts and frigates broke off from the blockade to intercept the _Venator_ cruiser, which was trying to travel underneath the blockade. Soon enough, the home of the 66th Battalion was surrounded by a group of enemy ships locking onto their target.

A hail of red rained down upon the _Akul_, besieging the rear shields. Onika and her clone troopers were thrown from their standings and across the bridge like ragdolls. Red emergency lights began flashing all throughout the ship as a blaring high-pitched alarm rang in the ears of the crew.

"Increase power to the rear shields!" Ka'on exclaimed as she picked herself off the ground. Beside her was Green, who had also been rammed into the side of a control panel. Multiple soldiers lay across the bridge, splayed and awkwardly bent.

"We've lost one of our engines!" a clone shouted back from a panel on the left side of the forward bridge. His controls were sparking and flashing in and out of use. Onika had barely stood up when another barrage of missiles collided with the ship. Everyone was once again tossed about. Ka'on's head nearly bashed into the side of the holotable before a hand gripped the lip of the device. Her head then hit Green's forearm, a less damaging surface than the table.

The commander grabbed the collar of the Jedi very similar to how he did on Geonosis and brought the woman to her feet. She gazed up at him in confusion, but he refused to acknowledge his actions. Onika was no use to them dead or injured.

"Shield integrity is at sixty-five percent!"

Ka'on bared her teeth and punched the holotable in frustration. Mostly, it was directed at herself for following Kenobi's orders. Had she retreated like Green suggested, they might not be in this situation. However, cowardice was not the Jedi way.

"The _Baringer_ is dead in space," Green said after tapping into his communications system and watching the holotable. Onika glanced up at the flickering hologram just in time to see the aforementioned vessel explode. In the Force, thousands of voices cried out all at once, nearly bringing the Jedi to her knees. The 66th had fought alongside many of the men on that ship multiple times in the past few months. Ka'on clutched her chest and stared wide-eyed at nothing.

When Green saw that Onika was trapped in her state of panic, he stood up and started barking orders to the men on the ship. "Start getting everyone on the gunships to evacuate," he said, "Tell the pilots to take off with as many men as they can carry."

"Sir, yes, sir!" came many responses.

Onika looked to Green with furrowed brows, "What are you doing?!" She raised herself and ground her teeth as the bridge shook less violently than before. Green pivoted and brought himself directly in front of her. "I'm trying to save the men we can cause this ship isn't going to last," he growled. Onika returned his glare and shouted, "Yeah, and they'll be shot down as soon as they take off."

"Better some than all," was his final words before storming to the front of the bridge.

"All non-essential personnel report to the hangar bay and escape pods," he said as he began sorting through the crew, sending some away. Troopers ran off the bridge to follow the commander's orders. Ka'on watched them go with anger, angry that Green would defy her and take over the operation on his own accord.

"Commander Green, I do not-"

_Shhhhhttt-BOOM._

"We're going down!"

Soft speckles of ash landed on the Jedi's cheek, slowly waking her from near death. Her gaze scanned the haunting scene. She lay across the floor of the bridge, smoke and flames licking the edges of the room all around her. Blue-uniformed bodies were plastered against the metal surfaces, some even splattered.

Glass shards were littered everywhere and orange blazes peeked through the broken viewports. The fires roared as they gradually engulfed more and more of the bridge, earning new victims on the way.

Onika's senses had not yet caught up with her consciousness, and therefore she felt nothing beyond ebbing away. She looked around, hopeless. Yet, in that deep pit of nothing, her conscious was able to grasp onto one thing. Those emerald green stripes glowed like a beacon in the eyes of the Jedi. She reached out, not physically, but through the Force. Despite all the transgressions he had committed against her, the young woman prayed she would feel his signature pulse.

And pulse it did.

Ever so slowly, the Jedi lifted her head, ash falling down. Strands of hair slid down into her face, having come out of her nicely done braid. Her arms came out to prop up against the ground. Ka'on stared lazily at the clone commander as he continued to lay still. Mustering strength to her legs, Onika managed to stand, wincing as her leg spiked with pain.

The Knight limped towards Green, nearly collapsing by his side. With two fingers, she reached under the lip of his bodysuit to feel his neck. A strong carotid pulse satisfied Onika, who used the Force to scan the man for injuries. To her surprise, he had none. Her next move was to shake the clone and call out his name.

A control panel burst, sending sparks everywhere. Ka'on covered her head out of instinct. It was then that she noticed how much she was shaking. Her breath was shaky and her lip quivered. Shock had begun to set it from the trauma of the crash and the bloody scene around her. All of a sudden it became very apparent to the Knight that she and Green were the only ones still alive on the bridge. Most of the other bodies were either charred, still on fire, or twisted so badly that there was no possibility of survival.

Onika continued to shake Green, this time more urgently. She felt helpless just lying there surrounded by dead men. Their decaying Force signatures nearly made the woman puke right there all over the commander. Her composure was fading with every passing second that Green did not wake up.

"_C-mand-rrrr Ggggg-r-eeenn-"_

Onika's watering eyes clicked to the man's commlink. A spark of hope ignited in those golden amber spheres as static and broken chatter continued to come through. She grasped onto Green's forearm and pressed onto the gadget. "This is General Ka'on," she said, "Can anyone hear me?"

Silence at first.

"Can anyone hear me?" she repeated. Her stomach dropped as her reply came, "_Oh, th-thank G-g-god. This is Cap-L-Lucas."_ Ka'on smiled and let out a breath she didn't know she was holding on to. "Oh, fek," she burst, "Where are you?"

"_Off-ff the s-shi-p-p. Mooo-st got out-t-t. W-rrr are you?"_

"I'm on the bridge with Green," Onika said, "We'll make our way towards you."

"_C-opy th-that,"_ Lucas said before cutting the transmission.

Ka'on turned her attention to the commander. He was stirring slightly. The Jedi placed her hand on his shoulder and tried to look into his visor. "Green? Can you hear me?" she asked. The man stirred again.

"Ugh," the clone groaned and turned on his side, facing away from Onika. She sat back and watched as Green started to get up. He seemed to look all around him. His right fist slammed into the ground out of frustration when his HUD scans came back with so many deaths. Ka'on spoke his name softly again, startling him.

Green whipped around. He said nothing and kept staring at her. "Are you alright?" she prompted, standing up and taking a couple wobbly steps back. The man nodded after a few seconds and made to stand as well. He seemed to strain as he did so, likely bruised from being tossed around the bridge during the crash.

"Fuck," he exclaimed as he took in another scan of the room, "Fuck!" Ka'on felt herself step back even further as the rage within him built up. She held her breath as the man turned and stormed towards her. At first, Onika thought he might go to hit her, but his hand instead grabbed the upper part of her right arm.

"Come on," he growled through his gritted teeth. Green started dragging Onika past the dead bodies and flaming debris. They ducked underneath exposed wires, sparks showering them. As the two made their way off the bridge towards the lift, the commander kept his hand on her arm. Ka'on didn't know if it comforted her.

The lift door was partially open and the control panel was fried. Green let go of the Jedi and huffed before effortlessly pushing the door all the way open. As he gazed down at the empty elevator shaft, he cursed. This was their only way down, and there was no lift.

"What do we do?" Onika asked.

Green scoffed a breath and peered at the woman. Her face seemed so hopeless. Her hair was falling into her face, the braid she normally wore long since fallen apart. The rage and anger he had towards Onika faded for only a moment as he took in how she looked. But once her question registered, Green's rash attitude returned.

"We climb," he said.


	9. 9: Making Camp

"_The enemy of my enemy, is my friend."_ \- Bo Katan Kryze

**Chapter Nine: Making Camp**

In the ten hours since the crash, a heavy rainfall came upon the grasslands of Lothal. It was almost ominous how it began shortly after the _Akul_ landed. Mud puddles and small rivers formed everywhere, soaking into the body suits of the clone troopers and clogging their boots as they moved around the casualties and organized the survivors. The only positive effect one could see was that the downpour was extinguishing most of the fires on the exterior of the ship, allowing a rescue effort to pick through the vessel. Thankfully, the cruiser dumped most of its fuel reserves to ensure it would not explode on impact, not leaving much for the fires to consume anyway.

By a miracle, most of the 66th had made it out, with only a couple dozen fatalities. They had been preparing to evacuate the ship via LAAT's in the hangar bay. Many were wounded, a couple critical, but overall it could have been worse. Worse came for the crew, however. Out of 7,000 crew members, only 3,000 remained. The fatalities mainly stemmed from the hull and bow of the ship, which nearly disintegrated on impact.

Onika and Green tried their best to get as many survivors off the _Akul _on their way out, but many men were trapped or burned after the crash. A rescue team was still working on scouring the ship looking for anyone else, or bringing out the dead to be accounted for. On a high mound away from the muddy terrain, the 66th laid down their fallen brothers side by side until a proper funeral could be set up. It was a bloody and gruesome scene that even Green could not stand around in.

The wounded were rounded up into a designated area where the men had created makeshift tents out of debris and panels from the cruiser. All the medical supplies, ammunition, and ration that could be scavenged were dumped there as well. Commander Green didn't like the idea of staying so close to the crash site, but General Ka'on refused to move the wounded until they were stabilized, as per Red's advice.

The two leaders were arguing in the "command station": a canvas tent held up by pipes that contained a beat-up, yet somehow still functioning holotable. Crates of ammunition lined the tent, which the officers used as seats when meeting together. Onika had spent the last three hours here attempting to organize camp under the extreme scrutiny of her second-in-command.

"We are sitting ducks here waiting for the Seppies to come finish us off," the ARC trooper barked, talking over Ka'on as she tried to explain her reasons for heeding the senior medical officer's opinion. "I understand that, Commander," she said, holding up a hand to try and calm him down, "But I don't want to risk losing more men to the elements until we absolutely have to."

Green shook his helmet and turned his back to her, staring at the canvas in front of him. "They are going to send search parties after us once they've finished with Kenobi," he growled, "And by then, it will be too late for us to move. We'll all be dead."

Onika sighed silently and tried to think of a way to balm his worries. Most of their transport vehicles were badly damaged in the crash and needed serious repair if they were to use them. It might take a couple days, but once those transports were in order, they could easily move the wounded. "I'll get a few men working on repairing the vehicles like you said," the Jedi Knight spoke calmly. She kept a straight face as the man turned to her sharply and cocked his head at her. It was almost as if he didn't believe what she had just said.

"You will?" he asked, cautiously. The woman has made compromises with him before, but he didn't suspect _any_ reluctance in the way she went along with his plan.

Onika nodded her head respectfully and rose up from the crate she was sitting on. "I have many of the men working on assisting the medics, organizing supplies, and building camp," she explained, "I can probably pull fifty men to start on the project."

"I-," Green stopped, sounding almost...dumbfounded. "Agreed, General." Ka'on internalized her giddy excitement and bowed her head before slipping through the canvas flaps that served as the door. The clone eyed her as she left, his visor reflecting the small amount of light flickering from the holotable. Shaking his thoughts from his head, the ARC trooper sat on a crate next to the table and pulled out a datapad from his utility belt. He felt the need to go over the inventory report given to him by the captains one more time.

"Knock, knock."

"Come in."

Green lazily lifted his head to see who it was. To his relief, Lucas waltzed in. The captain saluted his commander dutifully before removing his helmet and finding a seat next to his brother. Green clasped him on the shoulder and nodded his way. "Doing alright, _vod_?" he asked Lucas. The latter ruffled his scruffy-looking hair and tried to find a clean part of his glove to wipe the sweat from his forehead. It was raining, but still hot and groggy.

"How are we getting ourselves out of this one?" the captain asked half-jokingly. He sent Green a forced smirk. His brother's face was still covered, but he could tell the older clone was not rather optimistic at the moment. Green never let his brothers see when he was discouraged, as he viewed it as providing a bad role model for them.

"I'm going to listen to you," Green said slowly, Lucas raising a brow at him, "And trust the Jedi on this one." The captain's eyes expanded to dinner plates. "You," he pointed to the ARC trooper, receiving a groan, "Are going to _trust_ her?"

'Please don't make me regret saying that," his brother said, shoving him almost to the point of falling off the crate. "But, yes," Green replied, "She actually listened to me today and followed my advice."

"Whoa," the brown-eyed clone gasped. "That's big," he continued, "She didn't argue with you?" Green chuckled, amused. "Don't worry, we had our share of barking at one another for a good hour." Lucas rolled his eyes playfully and shrugged. "Then she decided to do what I said was best," Green said more seriously this time, looking down at his hands.

"And I always said Kamino would stop raining before you two got along," joked Lucas. When Green didn't seem to perk up at this, he nudged his brother. "What's up?" he asked.

"It's," Green started, being careful about his wording, "what you said about her before." The commander set aside the datapad and cracked his knuckles. It was very uncharacteristic of him to be nervous or hesitant to speak his mind. _Very_. Lucas noticed this as well and remained very serious, knowing his brother needed to get something off his chest.

"More specific?" the captain proposed.

Green huffed and cleared his throat. "You said I liked her." The sentence came out reluctantly and hushed, as if someone were outside listening. The man sitting next to him blew a sharp breath. "Oh," Lucas dragged on, starting to feel quite nervous himself, "That I did." His brother shrugged, "I can't say for sure, but you might be right."

Lucas glanced back and forth in confusion. "What do you mean, "can't be sure"?" he asked, making an air quote hand gesture. Was Green saying that he might like her as a person or something else?

Green rolled his eyes out of frustration. Anytime he had to talk about his feelings, he stuttered and could never find the right words to convey his thoughts. "I-don't like what she is. A, er, Jedi, I mean. I don't like them. But her…" he got too nervous to continue and clammed up, looking away with a flushed face.

"Go on, _vod_."

"In the past couple months I can see that she has changed," Green spoke, pressing on the nail beds of his gloved hands. It was very hard for him to admit when he was wrong. The commander had been so harsh towards the Jedi and claimed she was a burden to them, however she has proved herself quite the opposite the past few hours. He still was not letting her off about following Kenobi's orders, though.

Lucas nodded and smiled lightly, "She has." He was about to continue before the commander chuckled.

"Stills bugs the fuck out of me. Hell, sometimes I just can't be in the same room as her, but-" Green stopped, looking off mid-thought as if the word he was going to say doesn't fit. He wanted to describe this weird feeling he had for the longest time, but no words he knew seemed to fit.

"She's got spirit," the captain tried to finish for him. His brother was being serious about this, and didn't open up very often, so he wanted to be as supportive as possible. However, if there was an opportunity to convince Green to get along with Onika, then he was going to take it. Everyone was sick and tired of listening to their bickering the last three months.

"She does," Green agreed. It wasn't exactly what he was going to say about the general. Lucas figured this by seeing the look on the commander's face. "She's good-looking?" he suggested. Green scoffed and looked away, rolling his eyes. "That's not what I meant," he laughed.

"Admit it."

Green's brows furrowed and he glanced at Lucas, who had a straight face on. He was serious. "Fuck off," the older clone muttered, once again gluing his eyes elsewhere. Lucas wasn't….wrong. He had thought about the general's attractiveness before. It's not something that was overtly important to him like many other clones, but he did appreciate it.

In fact, there were some nights he thought about it to the point it frustrated him. Curse his excess testosterone courtesy of Kaminoan genetic manipulation. And biological needs.

Green sat back and palmed the front of his helmet, leaning down to rest his elbows on his knees. Between them, a silence grew so that only the pattering of rain on the canvas could be heard. Lucas knew Green would rather go silent than admit someone else was right, or if he was embarrassed. It actually relieved the captain to hear this silence from him. Green was pushing Onika back because he was afraid of exposing his infatuation with her, not because he actually hated her.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, Green," the younger trooper said quietly.

The battalion commander let his hand fall into place on his knee, looking up at his brother. "It's not just that. When I see how passionate she is about other people, and how she just cares so much…" He started stuttering again.

"You like that about her," Lucas once again finished his statement for him. "Yes, I do. And that annoys me too," Green declared in an irritated, gruff voice. His brother tilted his head curiously.

"How?"

"It was so much easier hating her before. Back when she was so shy and hesitant on Geonosis. It was so easy to be around her. But now, whenever I'm around her, even if she's pissing me off, all I can think about is the things I like about her. It's weird and I don't want it."

Lucas stifled a chuckle and bit his lip to prevent himself from smirking. Was his big brother really annoyed about something so natural, so _normal_? They grew up around clones that always talked about girls and the things they wanted to do when they got leave. Green was present when a few of their own men came back from the last leave period with tales and victories at stripper bars on Coruscant. It was _normal_ to be interested in women.

Granted, Lucas did worry about the consequences of something like this getting out. Green would surely endure an eternity of jabs from his brothers and highly inappropriate questions. Yet, a twinkle of an evil idea popped into Lucas's head. The clone finally allowed himself to smirk as the plot developed in his mind.

Green had had a really rough life. Though Lucas didn't know the full extent of his brother's training, he had a pretty good rundown on Green's training. All of Alpha-3's life, Lucas had never seen him genuinely happy. Sure, he enjoyed time every now and then with his brothers, but the man generally stuck to himself and kept all of his emotions locked up. Lucas wanted to see him happy.

The way the captain had seen Onika treat the commander despite all of his grievances cast upon her, he could tell she showed him compassion and regard for his well-being. He could see in her eyes that she wanted Green to respect and admire her. The young woman had been trying for months to get him to acknowledge her efforts or praise her skill. Lucas figured if Green opened up to her and started expressing his feelings, they might amount to something.

Green stopped staring off into space and peeked at Lucas. When he saw the grin on his brother's face, he frowned underneath his helmet and reached over to bash him across the temple. If Lucas was going to make fun of him, there would be a _problem_. He and Lucas have scrapped in the past before over stupid things, but this was a major issue Green would not let his brother get away with joking about.

"What the fierfek are you laughing about?" Green sounded pissed and like his normal self. Anger and aggression were the only things he was really good at. He never got the luxury of discussing attraction and women with his brothers growing up, so all of this was new to him.

"You're moping about because you're too scared to express yourself?" Lucas raised a brow and swiped at his brother, trying to return the smack. Green easily dodged out of the way and stood up, walking away from his brother.

"That's what I'm afraid of," he spoke through gritted teeth.

"Why?" Lucas asked, not satisfied. He watched as Green rolled his shoulders and popped his neck, splashing mud as he stormed towards the captain.

"Those bastard Kaminoans really only taught me two things: follow orders and kill. Anything beyond that is extra and I have no idea how to handle it," he exclaimed, jabbing a finger into Lucas's chestplate.

"I still don't get what you mean," the captain pushed away his finger and fixed his pauldron. He wasn't mad at his brother for lashing out angrily, as he had seen this far too many times in their youth. Lucas remained calm and supportive.

Green sighed heavily and sat back down on the crate next to Lucas. "If I try to get along with her, I'm scared of these things I like about her multiplying and getting in the way." He looked to Lucas expectantly, as if he wanted him to agree.

Slowly, his brother stood up. Putting a hand on the commander's shoulder, the captain gave it a reassuring squeeze before saying, "Well, for the record, we'd all prefer it if you two got along. Go talk to her." Before Green could say anything more, his second-in-command and closest _vod_ walked away.

Onika was barely able to walk through the medical area without squeezing through her men. It felt as though the whole battalion was scrunched up between the makeshift beds. The Jedi peeked through gaps and tried to raise up on her feet to spot Sergeant Red, though avoided looking at the blood and gore. The senior medical officer had been promoted to Sergeant alongside Domino in the last campaign, Grayson ranking up to First Sergeant. Red was now the highest ranking medical officer in the battalion that was still alive. Medics unfortunately got shot quite often.

When Onika could see the red cross symbol and dual emerald green striping on the Sergeant's armor, she rushed through a little quicker. Trying to be as polite as she could, the Jedi finally slipped through right next to the man. Red looked to her and immediately saluted, "General."

Ka'on dipped her head and smiled forcefully, "Sergeant. How are the wounded?"

"Not very good, ma'am," Red exhaled, "have nearly two hundred men the can't be moved, five hundred more seriously injured, and ten in critical condition that probably won't make it." Onika had to look away for a brief moment, not sure how to respond to this. The first thing that came to mind was how low they were on medical supplies and rations. If Red and Shark's reports were accurate, they only had enough to sustain them for maybe two weeks.

Onika had to block her senses when the smell of blood rushed to her nose. Her eyes watered slightly and her stomach churned. All around her were dying men with bleeding bandages and bacta patches. The scent of mud and groggy air did not mix well with the dying.

"Green and I are going to work on getting what transports we can to work," the Knight said, trying to relieve the medic. He looked at her with solemn eyes, barely able to give her a grin. "I guess that's our best bet," he said. Ka'on nodded and looked around at all of the men either assisting in caring for wounded or laying down injured. It pained her to see so many of the men she fought alongside the last few months beaten up and fading away. If she had the strength to heal them all, she would do it in a heartbeat.

"I need some extra hands," she started, "So if there's any excess of help, please send them to me." Red nodded in acknowledgement. Onika sighed and said as she left, "But I can see that we really need all the help we can get here."

The woman started pushing her way back out of the medical center, ready to get away from the decaying Force signatures and see Captain Shark. He was in charge of organizing supplies at the moment and might have more men for her to utilize. Onika was moving at a quicker pace before a clone caught her eye. Laying on a board surrounded by two rookie medics was Grayson. He was bare from the waist up and his abdomen covered by a large gauze soaked in blood.

"Sergeant?" she gasped, stopping in her tracks. He shifted, but didn't respond to her. The medic closest to her spoke up, "He's not doing too well, general. There's a massive laceration to his stomach." After the medic moved the gauze to replace it, Onika got a short glimpse at the nasty wound. From what she was able to see, it was large and deep. It was probably caused by a metal panel or shard of glass during the crash.

"Will he be okay?" the general asked as she knelt down by the sergeant's side. The back of her hand pressed against his forehead. It was clammy and cool. The man likely was in hemorrhagic shock with how pale his skin was. His chest rose and fell rapidly, his body's way of making up for the lack of blood. Onika's lips pressed into a thin line when Grayson shifted in discomfort. The clone she had seen so chipper and funny was in really bad shape at the moment. He had been by her side since the battle of Talravin and one of the clones she trusted with her life.

"We don't know, General," was her answer. Ka'on cupped Grayson's cheek and sent some of her Force energy to hopefully calm and heal him. He stopped stirring at this and seemed to relax slightly, his respirations reducing.

The Jedi Knight stood up and pushed away the strands of hair that were stuck to her face. Turning to the new medic, she put a hand on the side of his arm. "Please keep me updated, Stitch," she asked kindly. He removed his helmet and gave her a genuine smile, his icy blue eyes full of warmth and softness the 66th had not yet taken from him. "Of course, ma'am."

Satisfied, Onika continued on her way. The walk from the "medbay" to the supply pile was quite short. Ka'on easily picked out Captain Shark, who was holding a datapad in one hand and directing traffic with the other. When the tattooed clone spotted his leader, he waved her over enthusiastically. "Good to see you, General," he greeted, handing her the datapad, "We're making quick work of the leftover crates. Should be done by sundown."

"That's good news, Shark," Onika said with relief. Finally, some positive outcomes for today. Everything had been so bleak the past ten hours. At first, there was the chaos of getting everyone to a safe distance, though thankfully Captain Lucas had managed most of the crew already by the time Onika and Green made it out. Next, the medics had to triage the entire battalion and crew, sorting out who was more likely to be saved and treated. Onika set up the rescue teams while Green arranged the dead to be carried to the mound where the battalion would have a funeral to honor them at night.

It was very uncommon for the Republic to hold funerals for the dead clones, rather their bodies were collected and destroyed, leaving them but a distant memory. However, Green made it tradition to always honor the dead after a battle, hailing them as heroes. It went back to his proud Mando heritage that you never leave anyone behind and always respect your family. Onika agreed with this, not only for her secret heritage, but also due to the Jedi always honoring their dead.

The sooner the groups finished their work, the quicker they could form up everyone. Onika did not want to start working on the vehicles until the morning so that every clone could attend the funeral and say their final goodbyes to their brothers.

"Any news on when we're getting out of here?" Shark asked before turning to shout orders. When he was finished, he gave the Jedi his attention once more. "Green suggested having some men try to repair the vehicles so we can move the wounded," she said. Her words earned an agreeing dip of the head from her captain. She handed back the datapad after perusing the inventory list and gestured towards the men working.

"How many can you spare tomorrow? I don't want to pull anyone from the medbay just yet," Onika spoke. Shark mumbled in thought, calculating in his head. "I don't really need that many to ration out supplies tomorrow. What do you need?" he inquired.

"I'd say about fifty."

"Woof," he said, "That might be doable. Have you asked Skye yet? He's almost finish organizing the patrol shifts, I believe." The Knight folded her arms, "Didn't cross my mind, but I'll see what he can do. Just send whoever you can spare to the entrance of the portside hangar dock tomorrow at dawn. We'll make it work."

"Copy that," Shark said and excused himself to continue directing supplies. Onika thanked him and pivoted on her heels. She began walking towards the camp perimeter they had set up. Captain Skye was her next visit.

The sun was starting to settle on Lothal, however the rain continued to dump buckets with a vengeance. Most of the work around camp had been completed and the officers instructed everyone to find what shelter they could. Debris was organized to form simple shelters and shrubs from the grasslands were collected to create small fires for men to warm up next to. Everyone cramped up together under their makeshift roofs and tried to stay out of the mud. The funeral was pushed back to dawn, when it was more likely for the rain to lighten up and be warmer outside.

Onika was going to take shelter in the command post, but when she checked in, most of the officers were already bunched in there. The Knight traveled back to the crash site and wedged herself underneath the ship, graciously taking up a mostly dry patch of soil. The metal of the ship left her cold and shivering, her blanket not offering much support as it was already drenched.

Ka'on decided not to take supplies to make a fire since she knew she could withstand the cold. It was just miserable. She kept herself even colder with the nagging thought that she was failing. Onika feared she was failing as a leader and that her decision to listen to Obi-Wan cost her the lives of the 66th and the crew. Maybe Green was right from the beginning and she was only a burden to them.

A whistle caught Onika's attention. She squinted to see through the rain. All she could make out was white and green, not narrowing down who it was. However, when the woman tapped into the Force, she perked up.

"Commander?" she called out as the man grew closer, his signature markings-solid green legs & arms, wide green stripe down the front, and upside down triangle painted on the front of his helmet-now visible through the downpour. He had a drenched blanket over his helmet and shoulders that he was holding up with one hand. Onika wondered the purpose of this until she glanced down at what was in his other hand: a blanket. Once he was nearly up against the metal panel over the Jedi's head, he braced his free hand against it, leaning down.

"I have a peace offering," he stated, holding the brown fabric out slightly. Ka'on noticed how it was mostly dry due to him covering his upper half with the other blanket to block the rain. She looked to him confused as to why he was showing her this act of courtesy.

Onika didn't move or say anything, so Green took it upon himself to kneel down beside her and remove the soaked blanket she was wearing. Throwing it and his own drenched tarp to the side, he reached over and unfolded the blanket behind her, wrapping it around her shoulders. She stared at him dumbstruck as he sat down next to her and rested his forearms on his bent knees.

"Uh, thank you," she struggled to blurt out. Green shook his head up and down but said nothing. He hadn't thought this far ahead. He figured this was the kind of behavior Lucas wanted him to showcase, but actually executing it was a whole other thing.

Onika desperately wanted to ask him why he did this, but feared he would brush her off and ask her not to speak of it. She gripped the edges of the blanket, pulling it further around herself and revelling in its relative warmth. The commander had done a great job of keeping it dry as well.

Green was scraping his mind for something to say. Lucas had said to "talk to her". The problem was that the _Alpha_-class soldier was not much of a talker. He ground the heel of his right boot into the soil, watching as the dirt piled up around his foot. When he seemed impatient with that, he unsheathed and then sheathed the twin pistols he kept attached to his thigh armor plates. Onika watched this as well, noting how she has never seen the man this...fidgety.

"Do you think the rain will stop by morning?" she asked him suddenly, nearly startling him. Green didn't look at her, but responded, "It better. Those men deserve a proper sending off." His words came out harsh, as he has always masked his nerves or emotions with anger, as he was taught. The aggressiveness wasn't directed at Onika, but rather their situation. She understood this and hummed in agreement.

An awkwardness settled between them. They both felt a weird tension that was new. It was not dislike of one another, but something else and foreign. Onika felt the man battling himself in thought and turned to him to try and break the pressure. It worked, as Green lifted his head up to look her in the eye. Ka'on could see herself in his visor, but looked beyond that to the man underneath the helmet. Even though she couldn't see his face, Green felt exposed with the way she looked at him, into him.

Onika kept the connection for only a few seconds, feeling the man lock up the further she read into him. If she said she didn't like the way his presence felt away from all the bickering and animosity, that would be lying. "Let me guess," she started, "Someone put you up to this?" Her tone of voice wasn't mocking. Green nodded quickly and breathed in relief at her not looking at him that way any more. "Lucas."

"Ah," Onika shrugged and looked at the rain, breaking their eye contact. "He asked me to talk to you," Green said. Perhaps if he was transparent and told her what happened, she might open up to him as well. Onika smiled at this and chuckled, "He's quite the negotiator, that one." The remark made the commander laugh as well. Ka'on felt herself cheer up at the prospect of making him laugh at something funny rather than at her failures or insecurities. It felt nice.

"I'm not much of a talker," Green said, "So I thought the blanket might make up for that."

The Jedi Knight snapped her amber eyes to Green's visor. _He_ thought to bring it, not _Lucas_? The gesture meant even more to the Jedi than it did before. "And for that I am very thankful," she bowed her in respect, looking down at the blanket. Green smirked when he saw her face blush. For a Jedi, her emotions were easy to read.

"I do want to talk to you about what happened," the man said sincerely. Onika blinked a few times and inhaled deeply. It was only a matter of time before he scolded her about that. She huffed and looked into Green again, unnerving him. "I already know I was wrong on that one, Green," she spoke firmly and slightly agitated, "You don't think I see the piles of dead bodies and think it's all on me for that?"

Green could tell that this event had scarred Onika. The way she looked at the fallen soldiers on the hill frightened her. All sense of Jedi calm was whisked away and she stood there, teary eyes looking upon the consequences of Kenobi's orders until Tag pulled her away. There was no time for her to completely process all of it and move on. It was a scene that will stay with the woman for the rest of her life and visit her in her sleep. Green knew that and chose not to press her further into a dark hole. They could talk about all of this when it's right.

The commander exhaled through his nose in exasperation. It was loud enough that Onika heard it through the filters of his helmet. "I didn't come here to knock you down, Onika," he said with as much calm as he could muster. Ka'on leaned back slightly at the use of her name. He _never_ says her first name.

"I want to explain my side of things," he continued. His counterpart nodded her head and gave him her full attention. "My loyalty is to my brother's," Green spoke, "Not this war, not the Republic. To my brothers." Onika didn't react because she was already aware of this. Granted, he was in her face the last time he said this.

"So any course of action that puts them in unnecessary danger is going to anger me. Even if your Council orders it, I won't sit well with a plan that leads them to their deaths," Green kept speaking, "But, I will try to go along with your orders from this point forward."

Onika gave a half grin, but before she was allowed to respond, Green held up a finger to pause her. "However, I want you to keep in mind," he began, "If you want me to follow you, you'll heed my advice." A moment of silence passed after this statement. It was an invitation for a new kind of relationship between them, one in which they agree they will put aside their differences for the benefit of the battalion.

"I will try to listen to you and the Council at the same time," Ka'on finally said. She could not promise she will completely take his advice, for the Council often contradicted his plans. Green seemed satisfied with this answer when he nodded. "I guess that's a start, then."


	10. 10: Mud and Rain

_a/n: Special thanks to KanadeAkatsuki13, I-got-zapped, and guests! Thank you for the support with your lovely reviews :) Now we're getting into the conflict on Lothal and I hope you all enjoy reading it. _

**Chapter Ten: Mud and Rain **

Smoke danced in the dewy morning air as the yellow sun peeked over the horizon. A peach glow cast upon the savannah, matching the orange flames that engulfed the bodies of the dead. Each fallen clone was laid down on a bed of sticks and dried up shrubbery. As they turned to ash, their brothers looked on, silently saying farewell. Once all of the pyres were lit, the battalion and remaining crew saluted, standing at attention.

The fires reflected off the general's gloomy eyes, her face quivering as she tried to contain her un-Jedi-like emotions. She gripped the edges of her blanket so harshly that her knuckles turned white and her nails dug into the palm of her gloves. The fabric was wrapped over her head in a hood, pushing strands of hair into her face.

They were all dead because of _her_. The field was filled with bodies because of _her_. Ka'on had to turn her eyes to the ground. Lucas put a hand on her shoulder out of comfort, but she felt no such thing.

A few minutes passed before the commander ordered the men to rest. From then on, they all watched until the last of the flames were extinguished. The roar of flames died down to a light crackle, embers littered across the field.

Now that the daunting task of making camp was complete, Onika allowed herself to process all of the death and gore she has seen in the past day. The faces of her fallen soldiers would be forever seared into her brain, like a branding iron on cattle. If it were not for her Jedi calm, the young Knight would have collapsed in Lucas's arms and cried.

Green had his arms folded, orange reflecting off his visor. On Kamino, he had grown accustomed to the concept of his brothers dying. It was nothing new to him and at this point, not shocking at all. This did not diminish the love he felt in his heart for his brethren, but made it easier to accept that they were gone. The way Green processed it, there's nothing he could do to bring them back; he can only focus on what he can do to prevent further death.

The commander did not completely blame Onika for this. She did not know they would be shot down and suffer thousands of losses. She did her duty and followed orders from a higher authority, as he did back on his home world. But, the ARC trooper wished her Jedi Order acted more morally sound as they claimed to be.

He glanced sideways to the Jedi Knight when her commlink beeped.

Onika deactivated the device, deciding to take the call in the command post instead of here. She located Commander Green, who was not standing too far from her. Walking up to the man, she swallowed the lump in her throat and whispered to him, "It's the Jedi Council." He said nothing and gestured for her to lead the way to the tent.

The two of them maneuvered their way through the crowd, though most stepped out of the way. Onika felt her heart pick up in pace when the damp canvas came into view. She had a premonition that the Council was about to request something illogical of her. It was unlikely they were offering fresh troops or supplies. Reinforcements would be a miracle at this point with the strength of the Separatist blockade. A few of Kenobi's ships made it through to the surface, but immediately after the blockade closed back up again and the troops were left stranded on the planet.

Onika's beige skin turned pale with fear. Green stepped up beside her as the woman reached over to turn on the holoprojector. After a bit of static from the cloud cover, the forms of Mace Windu and Yoda appeared. Ka'on put on the bravest face she could and lifted her chin slightly. "Masters," she greeted, trying to lace her voice with a hint of enthusiasm.

Green offered a gaze her way, curious as to why she was _happy_ to see them. Had they not just lost thousands due to the Council's orders? He put away his thoughts and tilted his head back towards the Council members. The commander made fists and hid them behind his back, grabbing his left wrist to keep it there. It was hard for him to not feel bitterness every time he laid eyes upon those Jedi.

The Korun spoke first, "We have unfortunate news for you, young Ka'on." Onika frowned at this and dipped her head inquisitively. She turned her head to Yoda, who seemed to have the faintest sympathetic look. Green felt the knots in his back as he faced the ceiling, irritation flowing through him. More bad news?

Windu continued, "Reinforcements will not be arriving before the capital siege."

The words made both the Knight and the clone trooper snap their heads to the Jedi Master. At nearly the same time, the two uttered, "What?" Windu seemed a little surprised by Onika's outburst, raising a brow at her. She seemed to back off at this, her head lowering submissively. Green noticed this but did the opposite. He stepped towards the table and waved a hand flippantly.

"We don't have the capability to attack the capital," he said, "There are hundreds of wounded and our vehicles are heavily damaged." Ka'on felt embarrassment at her commander stepping up to the Council, for she would hear about this later. They expected total obedience from her and would not let this slide, even if it were not her own words.

"Have enough men to aid General Kenobi, you do," the Grand Master spoke, "Attack alone, you will not."

Green was not content with this response. Did the Jedi expect them to leave the sick behind to fight some battle? He looked to Onika, hoping she would say something to counter her people. The Knight was still shying away, fearful of whatever punishment she would receive for denying the Masters. He groaned at the lack of support on her end and turned back to see Windu glaring at him.

"The siege will occur whether you like it or not, Alpha-3," he said, saying the trooper's birth name with disdain. Onika did peer up at this. She knew Green never liked hearing this name, as it reminded him of whatever happened on Kamino. The young Jedi sensed him building up with rage at this.

Onika reached out her right hand to rest on the commander's upper left arm. A twitch ran through his body at first, but a cool, calming feeling rushed through him. Green at first wanted to swipe away her hand, but the odd sensation felt good. He moved back so that he was parallel with Ka'on, who released his arm.

"If we lose Lothal, the Separatists will take control of this sector," Windu declared.

"When is the siege?" Onika asked quietly, her attention still on reading Green's emotions. He was silent and much more relaxed in the Force. Windu had a skeptical eye on the incident, but seemed grateful at the commander not barking at him any longer.

"In three days," he said.

Onika stopped herself from sighing and looked between the Councilmen, trying to come up with some sort of solution that would please both them and Green. She cleared her throat and folded her arms over her chest defensively. "I can spare a few of my men in three days once our vehicles are operational again."

Yoda bowed his head. "Settled, it is." However, the former Master of the Order Mace Windu did not seem too thrilled with Onika's compromise. He was expecting her to send all of her stable men, not just 'a few.'

The commander had no reaction, as he was still wrapped up with what the _fek_ she did to him. It felt as though a cold liquid had gone through his veins, putting out the fires raging within him. The energy passed through his entire body, numbing him at first to anything but that feeling. He also felt Onika. Her hand that was pressed on him before was soft and warm. He had never been touched so gently before. His whole life he only knew a hard hit or smack with a stick, not a soothing, feather-like touch.

"May the Force be with you, my old Padawan," Yoda said, giving Onika a smile. She returned it out of respect for her old Master. Out of all the Council members and their corruption, he alone she knew she could trust. Ka'on bowed her head to her former mentor and the transmission was cut. The woman then braced herself for the inevitable argument brewing.

By now, the ARC trooper had enough time to process the last few minutes. He was staring at her, not entirely pissed, yet not happy with her either. The man raised his hand as if he was about to start yelling, but closed it and turned away huffing.

Ka'on called out to him sternly, "Commander Green." He whipped around to face her, craning his head down. Dutifully, he placed his hands behind his back, standing at attention. She knew this to be his way of showing sarcasm and did not appreciate it.

"I said a few, not all," her words came out firm. Green shook his head and waltzed back towards the exit. He knew it was probably better for them both if he left. She watched him go, amber eyes faltering. If this is what it meant to compromise, it did not feel rewarding in the slightest bit.

Once the funeral was finished, Onika pulled as many officers into the command station as she could. After speaking with General Kenobi via hologram, she had some news that was not going to go over well. Not as many of his forces made it planet-side as the Council had thought. This meant that whatever healthy men they had needed to go to the warfront.

Commander Green parked himself in the furthest part of the tent from Ka'on as possible. Since the call an hour ago, she could tell he was at one of his boiling points. Yet, now that they were trying to tolerate one another, he was keeping himself away so he does not go off on her. Even though the Jedi was not delighted by him either, she did welcome his 'new' attitude towards her.

The clones were squashed in. Captain Lucas stood by Onika, his helmet off revealing a tired face. He had grown a bit of a beard the last couple weeks with how busy his company has been, not having much time to shave. All of the men were in similar states of being disheveled. In battle, there wasn't any point in enforcing grooming regulations.

Starting from Lucas, a ring of men surrounded the holoprojector: Lieutenant Vy, Domino filling in for Sergeant Grayson, Lieutenant Tyler, Sergeant Dillon, Lieutenant Thatch, First Sergeant Blue, Sergeant Vel, Captain Shark, Sergeant Hutch, Captain Skye, Captain Striker, and various other lieutenants and sergeants from the four companies. Also, the medics sent a few representatives while they continued to provide care. Red, Stitch, and Wyatt squeezed themselves in by Green.

"Go ahead, General," Lucas said after quieting down the men. The Jedi looked around sullenly, not entirely sure she was prepared. She herself had only just learned of this ten minutes prior.

"The Jedi Council has ordered our battalion to attack Lothal City alongside General Kenobi's forces," she said. The men muttered amongst themselves. But they all shut their mouths when the Knight held up a hand. They glued their eyes to her, feeling as though a bomb was about to go off.

"Kenobi only has one battalion."

The entire tent exploded in an outcry. Several officers stood up from their crates, waving about their hands. Some looked to each other, speechless. Onika's ears were overwhelmed with all of the commotion.

"That's not enough," shouted Vy. He was right; two damaged battalions would not stand much of a chance against a droid factory and an armada of battle droids. The 66th was a special operations battalion trained for infiltration, sure, but they were not Republic commandos. That was the calibre of battalion they needed.

"What the _fek_?" Domino looked around with a scowl. His tattoo scrunched up into the wrinkles on his forehead. He stood up from his sitting position next to Vy.

"You can't be serious, General!" Red cried out, his hands held out.

"We'll all be killed!" Dillon gestured towards everyone in the room. Thatch nodded his helmet in agreeance.

"This is ridiculous!" Shark exclaimed, covering his face with his hands as he knelt down.

Even Lucas turned on Ka'on, his face contorted in a mix of rage and shock. "Onika, we don't have the men for a siege!" he said.

Lieutenant Wess, of Captain Skye's Shadow Company, pointed at the Jedi. "This is why your people are losing the war!" he said. Onika's eyes widened at his comment, as others began to agree with him. "Shut your mouth, lieutenant," Lucas ordered, "You're not helping."

Shark stepped in front of Wess as the heated lieutenant kept on his barrage of negative comments. Ka'on didn't blame the clone, as most of his men were dead or sick right now. Before the Jedi could say anything, the tent turned into a battle. The clones that agreed with Wess were immediately cornered by those loyal to Onika, defending her leadership.

Domino was now in Wess's face, challenging him to a fight if he kept disrespecting their commanding officer. The lieutenant started to bring up his fists before Shark grabbed him and pushed away Domino. A series of brawls erupted out of nowhere, brother shoving brother as the frustration and tension hit breaking point.

Multiple attempts by Captain Lucas to stop the chaos hadn't worked. Onika started to feel overwhelmed, looking around hopelessly at the men. Her eyes landed on Commander Green, who was still in the corner of the tent, having stayed silent the whole time. Not knowing what else to do, the Knight looked to him desperately, a puppy dog look on her face.

Dipping his helmet, the ARC trooper stood tall and balled up his fists.

"LUUBID!" _Enough. _At the Mando'a word, the room fell silent. Shark let go of Wess and Domino voluntarily stepped back. Onika sent a nod of gratitude Green's way, but he gave no reply. He was just as ready as any of them to go off on her.

"What are we going to do?" Lucas asked, his face almost pleading for mercy. Ka'on could see in his brown eyes the immense fear he felt for his brothers. Sweat making his unkempt hair stick to his forehead, dark circles underneath his tired eyes. Once youthful light brown skin was littered with stress lines.

Ka'on took a glance at each of her men, reading their signatures to gain a general census of their thoughts. They all stood there, mud pouring into their boots. The longer the general stayed silent, the more the fear in the room grew. She felt her hands begin to shake with nerves. No matter what decision she made, it would not end well for someone.

Green's head tilted to the side in speculation. He watched as reluctance poured onto her face and terror glossed over her eyes. Conflict was rising in her as she had no idea what to say. She looked like a child who had lost their parents, gazing up as giants towered over her, ready to bounce. He knew what she was going to eventually say: that they had to follow the Jedi Council. For some unbeknownst reason, she was still loyal to them.

"Commander," Onika said without looking at him. A pause. "Get the men ready to work on the vehicles." Ka'on walked past as the men started calling out to her, asking what that meant. "Onika!" Lucas cried out as she pushed her way past Domino and Shark. She couldn't dare face any of them.

The ARC trooper found Onika sitting on a crate by Grayson's side. From what he could see, she was looking at the sergeant with intense guilt. Her hand was on top of his as she stared at the paleness of his face. His breathing had improved, but the officer was nowhere near in good condition. Stitch said his injuries would take him out for a month, if not more.

Green did not want to do this here where the men were resting. This will lead to an argument and possibly a lot of screaming. He walked up next to her and folded his arms. Mud sludged in his boots, splashing up onto his solid green calves. The Knight gave him a side glance, feeling the colossal presence he had in the Force. Even this far into the war, Onika still found herself intimidated by the man Commander Green was.

"Not now, Green," she said softly, taking her hand away from Grayson's. The clone commander shifted, feeling ever so slightly bad for the talk he is about to give her. She was obviously grieving over the past day's events and on the brink of breaking down. However, this needed to happen.

"Let's go outside," he prompted, calmly. Ka'on stood up and let Green guide her away from camp. She guessed that he didn't want to have this discussion around the men, which she appreciated. They stopped a good hundred feet away from the nearest tent, facing each other.

"I thought we just had a talk about-"

"I know what we said," Onika interrupted, eyes flames of gold as irritation dripped from her voice. She turned away, brown hair floating in the wind. The air was cold, the breeze making it more so. With a shiver, the Knight brought her blanket further around her. It was the same one Green had given her the day before.

Green huffed in disappointment, moving himself back into her view. "Then obviously you don't give a shit," he said. His words made the Jedi glare into his visor, contempt in the way her brows furrowed.

"Green, I don't know how to compromise in this situation," she spoke, voice seething. The sadness she felt in her heart for losing so many of her men, matched with the guilt, was turning into anger. The commander maintained his composure. Rather than raising his voice like he usually did, Green spoke firmly, "Then why don't we just wait for the rest of Kenobi's forces to catch up?"

Onika rolled her eyes lightly, shaking her head. Her pink lips puckered slightly as she sucked in a breath. "That would be going against the Council's orders," she said.

"And Kenobi isn't by not having his men ready?" Green challenged. He wondered how the Jedi got to the position they have in the galaxy with their messed up moral compass. They were chock full of hypocrites and selfishness. Jango was right about everything.

"He's on the Council, so they won't send him into a firefight first. It's different," Ka'on said. She knew she was lying. The Council always protected themselves above others, wanting to "preserve" the wisdom they supposedly carried.

"No, it's not. It's favoritism." Green was right, almost as if he had read the Knight's mind. Her right hand came up to massage her forehead. All of the smoke and stress had given the woman a splitting headache. She sighed as it began to drizzle.

"There's nothing I can do," Onika claimed.

"Then don't ask me for any favors once you've gotten us all killed," Green growled, sloshing in mud as he stormed off. Ka'on looked after him with a look of abandonment.

"Green!" she called out, hoping he would stop, but the man continued marching back to camp. The heat from his enraged Force signature left the woman, and the drizzle turned into a soft shower. Thunder rolled above, announcing the coming storm.

Dozens of clone troopers were waiting for the general by the hangar bay, ready to work. Getting the vehicles up and running would help keep their minds off what happened and satisfy their boredom. Clones seldom enjoyed sitting around in mud puddles with nothing to do but eat and guard the camp. Besides, the faster they could get these transports moving, the quicker they could get their sick brothers out of here.

Onika was greeted by Ghost, Harper, Owen, and Elliot. The four had organized the men into multiple groups, each leading one as they were some of the older, more experienced clones in the battalion. Ghost brightened when he saw the general, giving her a salute. "Ma'am," he said. The other three perked up, saluting as well until the Knight nodded for them to rest.

"You boys ready to start our project?" Onika asked, gesturing towards the four squads waiting for orders. "Yes, general," Elliot stated, waving her to follow him. She did, them walking closer to the middle of the crowd of clones. The sharpshooter pointed towards the hangar. "We already cleared it of hazards," he said, "Owen and I found three gunships, seven walkers, and a Juggernaut turbo tank that could be salvaged."

"That's great," Ka'on said, looking up with hope. Harper stepped closer. "From our calculations, we can move 300 of the wounded on that Juggernaut, 140 on the walkers, and another 90 on the gunships if we really bunch in together."

"It's not all the injured," Ghost said, "But it can at least cover our critical who cannot walk."

Ka'on was content with this. In fact, she had expected the numbers to be lower. In addition to troops, they could move supplies and aid in the attack on the capital. "Would it be possible to get a few more walkers up and running?" she asked, looking to Elliot. The trooper rolled his aching shoulders as he thought, the rain bouncing off his emerald green stripes. "It's possible," he said, "We can probably disassemble a few of the unoperational ones for spare parts."

"It might help to have a few vehicles when we go to the capital," Onika said. She was unsure how they would respond to her statement, knowing many of her men disagreed with the attack. Thankfully, Ghost nodded. "Yes it would. Might give us a little boost."

"Perfect. Then that's what we'll do," the Jedi stated confidently, her hands on her hips. The men followed her onto the ship. They had to weasel their way into the ruins of the main hangar. The fires long gone, debris and parts of broken ships now scattered the ship's interior. Most of the gunships and walkers were crushed, far beyond repair. A few were on their sides, and a couple looked barely touched at all.

Onika was thankful that the dead bodies of the fallen soldiers and crew members were now gone. It made being inside the ship much more tolerable. She could still picture the blood and gore as she stepped through the bay. As the ship creaked and moaned in the distance, all the Knight could hear was the loud impact of the crash and thousands of voices crying out in pain.

A hand on her shoulder pulled Ka'on from her mourning. She glanced up to see Owen staring at her. Through his visor she could sense his sympathy. "It's okay," he said before nudging the woman towards a series of gunships the group was huddled around. Owen continued walking on, thinking the Jedi was following him. Onika was about to before she stopped and raised a brow.

The group was standing in a perfect "U" against a line of gunships. Onika thought they looked almost like the treeline outside the wall of Lothal City. One of the gunships blast doors was open-almost like the gate to the city. The Knight suddenly had an idea.

By sundown, the vehicle team came out from the ship after a long day's work. The men were dismissed by Onika so they could get food and some rest. She made her way to the command tent, holding her hand above her in an unsuccessful attempt to shield herself from the rain. Since this morning, a strong storm had fallen upon the grasslands, emptying more water onto the surface than the previous showers.

It was a very miserable day.

Mud was knee-high in some spots, catching clones as they tried to go about their business. White armor turned brown from splashing and slipping. Brothers hunkered up on crates, trying to keep their feet off the wet ground. The campfires were extinguished, leaving everyone in a freezing stupor. Dry blankets were scarce now, as tents began leaking and shelters were compromised. The guardshift found themselves standing in a lake of brown water, their feet starting to prune.

The Jedi General found the ARC trooper in the command tent with numerous officers. She sludged her way up to him with urgency. Her left eye twitched as she felt water seep into her bodysuit uncomfortably.

"I need to speak with you immediately," she said, intercepting whatever conversation Green was having with Captain Shark. The commander stared at her indignantly, halfway through a sentence. He shooed away Shark, who nodded crisply and took his leave. General Ka'on pressed a few buttons on the holotable, bringing up a diagram of the city.

"I think I have a way to attack the city," she said, a hint of excitement in her tone. Green pondered at the image before craning his head at her, giving his attention. The Jedi pointed towards the "U" shaped treeline surrounding the city gate. The field in between was large, probably spanning about half a mile across.

"What if we stage half of the men here," she pointed to the bottom of the "U", the furthest point from the gate, "While the other half hide in the treeline." Onika motioned at the sides of the treeline closest to the wall. "The droids will be focused on the men in the clearing and march towards them. That's when the troopers in the treeline come out and flank them."

Green opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. He was surprised at the woman's plot. He wasn't going to lie and say it was perfect, but it was much better than the Council's idea of simply walking up to the gate with their full force.

"I know we don't have the numbers or air support to fully attack the capital," Onika started, "But at least this way we can take out a few of them without losing too many men on the field. The trees will cover them."

"And the men out in the field?" Green asked, "What cover will they have?" Ka'on knew he was going to ask this and had prepared her explanation ahead of time. "We already started working on enough vehicles to transport the critically injured if needed," she said, "But I'm going to get a few men to work on getting us a couple more walkers. Hopefully, if Kenobi has some as well, we use those to cover the men on the field."

"I," Green stuttered, "Approve." He had no other words to say. It was as if she had taken the air out of him. The man was, to say the least, _impressed_. She was actually looking out for the men, warping the Council's orders in a way that would cause the least amount of casualties.

That one word was all Onika needed to hear. For months, all she wanted was his approval. She felt giddy inside, almost as if he had complimented her. Actually, his approval was a compliment in her mind considering how picky Green was with her plans.

"Good," the Knight said, exhaling in relief. She tried her hardest to contain her joy. Now the hard part was implementing the plan.


	11. 11: Consequences

_a/n: In this chapter, I began giving "parts" to the story arc. I did this to give a little preface on what is going on in the chapter. I'll be doing this for major conflicts and story arcs throughout the series. Reminder that this series does contain a bit of gore and blood. _

_Thank you to Rock for your review! Much appreciated :) _

**Chapter 11: Consequences**

_The Battle of Lothal, Part 1_

Wind rustled lightly through the ash green landscape and into the branches of trees surrounding the valley. The clouds broke apart, allowing streams of light to cascade across Lothal City. Tall skyscrapers and industrial buildings made up the isolated metropolis, spanning miles. Around its perimeter stood a fifty-foot sienna clay wall which had not been maintained very well in the last few centuries. Tree roots had found themselves wedged up the wall. It cracked and molded in several spots, likely from the amount of annual rain Lothal received. Though weakened over the years, it was enough to hold off the small Republic force from entering the city.

The clouds above started coming together, cutting off the rays of light. A dark, ominous shadow was thrown over the grasslands.

Generals Kenobi and Ka'on stood in front of the 212th. Two dots next to a sea of yellow. The battalion was in formation behind a line of walkers. In total, their forces had eleven vehicles to spare. Onika did not want to risk losing her gunships or the Juggernaut carrier, so she had those remain at camp. Kenobi's gunships were lost during their landing due to heavy air superiority the CIS currently had over them.

While the rusty-yellow striped clones under Commander Cody stood out in plain view, the men of the 66th were in the shadows. Honing their training as infiltrators and stealth operatives, Onika's men would be invisible to the droids until the time was right. Even the general had a hard time locating Commander Green through the trees.

If it were not for her senses, the Jedi might not have found him crouched down behind a shrub. His black pauldron barely peeked out from the fauna. Ka'on lifted her wrist and opened their channel. "Is everyone in place?" she asked and watched as his pauldron shifted with moving his arm to respond.

"_Yes, General."_

Onika did not need to conversate further, knowing the battle was upon them. Ghost and Harper, serving as scouts on the mountain ridge just beyond the city, were keeping tabs on the droids. This allowed the troops to know exactly when the Seppies were coming their way. By their reports, the droid army numbers in the thousands of B1 units. And that was just _outside_ the droid factory.

Obi-Wan seemed oblivious to the coming danger, speaking to Onika as though this were some casual negotiation. She blocked him out, giving a small noise of acknowledgement scarcely throughout his monologue to feign attentiveness. He could do with his men as he wished, but Ka'on would follow the advice of her commander in this battle, not trusting Kenobi's wisdom. She still blamed herself for the crash, but Kenobi was the catalyst of it.

Commander Cody leaned his head down as a transmission came through to his HUD. After a few seconds, his head snapped to General Kenobi. "Sir, the droids are at the gate!" he called out, clocking his DC-14. The Jedi Master nodded and drew his lightsaber from his belt, "Alright, Cody. Prepare for the attack!"

"Ghost, Harper," Onika spoke through her comm. A second of static fuzzed before Harper's gentle voice came through. "_I read you, General,"_ he said. Ka'on swept her gaze over the mountain ridge, knowing her boys were out there somewhere. "Stay there and give us a hand from afar would you?" she commanded. Ghost cut through, his voice more rough. "_Glady, ma'am."_

Ka'on took one last look at Commander Green's position. A pot of worry was stirring in her stomach for the man. There was a nagging thought in her head that he might be the next face she sees lying on a funeral pyre. All of this was cast aside as the silver door of the city wall began to slide apart.

Dread coursed through the young Jedi's body at the metal glimmering in the sun. Row upon row of battle droids stood in the gate, black blasters against tan forms. Onika stared in dismay at the armada. Her morbid thoughts of death and loss returned, this time paired with the horrid scenes of Talravin.

_The droid factory was surrounded by the five clone companies. Each team was tasked with infiltrating a certain part of the foundry. This was supposed to be a get-in and get-out mission, no tailing around after the deed was done. Once all of the data had been collected from the central communications center, Commander Green made the order to evacuate the factory and load up on the gunships. _

_Onika was by his side, standing amongst the expired tactical droids and Separatist loyalists. The Knight could see the terror in their faces that stuck after they had passed. Though they were the enemy, she could feel sorrow at the loss of life. The woman covered her nose and mouth to avoid smelling the burnt flesh and blood. This was only her second mission, so she had not yet adapted to the cruel environment of war. _

_Whilst making her way out of the factory to the rendezvous point, Ka'on pictured the faces of her own men on those loyalists. She wondered if that was what the clones looked like when they died underneath their helmets. _

It was a picture she would go on to dwell over when sleep evaded her. In each battle since Talravin, Onika found it increasingly harder and harder to accept the deaths of her men. At night, she saw each of their faces crying out in pain, begging her to help them. She was tired of having to watch her troops die and being told it was a natural consequence of war. Now, as they faced improbable odds against the CIS, the Jedi Knight did not want to go through it again.

That outcome grew closer as the droids began their march. It was not a rushed pace, the units moving as though they were only patrolling the field. Ka'on noticed a distinct lack of variety in the droid's strength. Looking up to the darkening sky, she half-expected vulture droids to dive at them from nowhere in a surprise attack. Suspecting the heavy fire must be preoccupied on other campaign fronts in orbit, Onika looked back to the march.

The droids were much closer, about halfway where they needed to be before Green would ambush them. They trampled through the grasses, naive to the clone troopers lurking in the treeline. Green gripped onto his twin pistols, feeling comfort in the familiar curve of the blasters. His fingers ghosted the triggers, itching for a fire fight. The commander shifted from one knee to the other, his aching muscles rebelling at the movement. If he survived this, a hot shower might help to loosen up his overworked body.

Green did not like standing idle during a battle. Observing the Seppies making their way towards his brothers was off-putting and frustrating. He would rather be the one out there taking the hit while the others disguised themselves in the trees. Though he was not close with anyone in the 212th, every brother was valuable to him.

The ARC trooper glanced towards the yellow battalion, seeing them aim their weapons.

And that's when his eyes fell upon _her_.

Green experienced that odd rush of emotions again. The Jedi looked so resolute, her eyes fixated on the enemy and a twinge of aggression in her eyes. Her very womanly figure was posed and ready, chin held high. Green felt his breath deepen and his heart rate accelerate when the Knight ignited her blades, twirling them in her graceful fashion. Her right foot circled back behind the left one. The lightsaber in her right hand spun into a reverse grip, being swung forward to block a red bolt.

It was then that Green shook his head and heard the cries of battle begin.

Red rain seared through the 212th, sizzling with the all too well known sound of heat meeting plastoid armor. Clones were flung back into the ground, their bodies contorted and limp. The Jedi rushed forward, trying to block some of the fire going their troops' way while defending themselves. Kenobi made a signal and the walkers advanced, firing hot blue lasers at the droid army.

"Just a little closer," Onika muttered to herself through clenched teeth. Her elegant stance did not quaver as she continued to look between the droids and the men of the 66th battalion.

"Closer."

Hundreds of battle droids were now on the field, spanning out and running towards the 212th. Cannon fire sliced through them, only able to take out a few mechanical enemies at a time. Over two dozen clones lay dead on the battlefield now.

"_Now!"_ Ka'on's voice came through the HUD.

Green lifted up onto the balls of his feet and sprung from behind the shrub, signalling to the men. "Open fire!" he commanded as the emerald stripes emerged from their hiding spots. The clone officer stood alongside his brothers as the ambush ensued.

The droids were completely caught off guard. Many were taken out before they could even react. Onika's plan was working. While the droids were surrounded, the 66th began cutting through them, thinning out the sides of the block.

Ka'on's wrist began beeping as she lifted her right blade over her head to deflect a shot towards an AT-TE pilot. The walker was right behind her, taking shots while being shielded by fire. The pilot sprayed the droids with the six laser cannons equipped on the vehicle. On top was a 212th gunner, who used the mass-driver cannon to fire artillery.

The Jedi reached over to press the button on her wrist plate. "We've spotted enemy tanks headed your way!" Ghost said, "At least a dozen if not more!"

"Oh no," Onika ducked under fire as she heard the infamous humm of Separatist tanks. Off in the distance, they hovered across the main city street. Their tan bodies glided through the gate, super battle droids marching alongside them.

Ghost had been right, there were more than a dozen of them. The frontrunner came to a halt once all of the tanks were outside the wall. It's cannon pivoted, the shaft pointing right at the walker behind Onika. She felt her stomach drop as the red laser came hurtling towards her.

"Onika!" she heard Kenobi scream.

Black was all the Jedi could see, a dull ringing pulsating in her ears. The feel of the burnt earth beneath her fingers came back first. Next was a sharp pain in her back, likely from being thrown so far by the blast. Her ancient armor had barely protected her as she hit the land behind the decimated walker.

Ka'on's blurry vision made her head spin and throb, a pained grunt escaping her lips. She hissed as she pulled herself up from the ground, feeling grass slide across her face. Once the outline of Kenobi came back to Onika, she saw that he was standing a few meters away from her, blaster fire deflecting from his blue saber.

Onika glanced at the walker's viewport. The pilot was sticking out from the shattered glass, his helmet cracked and bloody. Ka'on had to look away when she saw how the glass shards had sliced through his bodysuit and into his abdomen. Blood was gushing everywhere.

Gripping onto the hilts of her own lightsabers, Ka'on ignited them. The green glow reflected off her face as she held the one in her left hand parallel to her head, the right in a reverse grip behind her. The Jedi leapt from behind the AT-TE, landing gently a couple yards away. With a determined look in her golden brown eyes, Onika began sprinting towards the droid army, dodging dozens of shots along the way.

She came upon a group of clones hunkered down in a large ditch. It was deep enough that they could kneel in and shoot at the droids over the edge. The Jedi hopped down into the hole and scrunched up next to Lieutenant Thatch. "This is really bad, general," he shouted over his shoulder while continuing to fire.

Ka'on was about to respond before a 212th clone a couple yards down from her was shot in the head. He gave out a sharp cry in agony before collapsing to the ground next to his brothers. Onika looked at him in horror as she saw the smoke rising from his helmet. Scanning the battlefield, the Jedi saw numerous clones lying dead with similar injuries. Trying to push away the memories of their previous battle on Muunilinst and the sounds of clones being killed, the general turned back to face the droids.

There were too many, she thought. Hundreds upon hundreds of battle droids were marching their way. The first wave of droids had been taken out. However, there were still several tanks that were slowly closing the gap. A few lucky shots had taken out the frontrunning Separatist vehicles, but the CIS weaponry was better stocked than the Republic's at the moment.

Onika decided the best course of action on her part was to get out of the ditch and stand in front of it. She turned away a majority of the shots coming towards her men, twirling her blades in a methodical and practiced fashion. The blaster fire was sent back against the droids, knocking them out one by one. Onika found herself increasingly satisfied at the sizzle every time she took out a droid. It was oddly therapeutic in a way. Each droid shot down was a potential threat to the clones fighting alongside her.

Yet, the Knight was still dwelling on the inevitable fact that they could not win this battle without bigger numbers. They were alone. Kenobi's men were tough and fought with the same nature that the 66th did, however they were no match for a barrage of tank fire. Onika allowed herself a moment to gaze wide-eyed at the ablazen battlefield. Dead clones littered everywhere, smoke rising up from the fallen walkers.

Onika looked behind her as a super battle droid fired a rocket. The missile made direct contact with a third walker. Ka'on shielded her eyes as the bright orange blast sent pieces of the AT-TE and surrounding troopers to the ground. The walker slumped to the earth and black clouds rose from it. Onika grimaced at the charred bodies lining the scene and glared over her shoulder at the droid who was responsible.

The next shot that came the Jedi's way was reflected towards the gray drone. It hit the droid's red sensor, sending it to the earth in a scrap pile. Ka'on glanced at it for a mere moment before focusing her attention back to the battle. A flash of dread washed through her when she realized the treeline was being overrun. _Where the fek is Green_, she thought.

Green slid behind a tree as a shot splintered the side of it. With an enraged grunt, he lowered into a kneeling position and fired upon the droids barely six hundred feet away. He and a couple squads had been able to sneak up the sides of the treeline towards the wall in an attempt to box in the incoming droids. So far the tactic had been working, but the non-stop wave of battle droids was proving ill to defeat. Green had already lost five of his best men despite their positions in the trees.

Red was hunched over one of the five, desperately trying to revive him. Green frowned when he heard the medic utter a curse word through the HUD. It was obvious that there was no saving their brother. The commander knew he would have to reserve a time later to mourn each brother he lost today in addition to those lost during the crash. Right now, he had to focus on the battle in order to honor their memory and sacrifice.

When a rocket blew up a walker, Green glanced over to see his brothers falling to the ground. A green flash caught his eye and he peered at the Jedi spinning her lightsaber to divert fire back at the Seppies. "What the hell is she doing?" he exclaimed after noting her being out in the open. Looking around at the officers by her, he spotted Thatch through his HUD and sent an open comm channel to him.

"Lieutenant, tell her to get behind cover now!" he barked. He barely saw Thatch turn his helmet to stare at the Jedi, most likely trying to yell Green's orders at her. Well, they weren't _orders_, as Onika technically outranked him now. Nevertheless, Green didn't want to have to deal with the Jedi getting shot. No matter how well she was protecting herself, she'll probably tire soon and not be as accurate.

The woman seemed to look to her right towards the treeline where Green and his men where. Her messy braid whipped around, nearly smacking her in the face. She searched for a moment before landing on Green's form. Zooming in on his HUD, the clone commander saw the angry stare on her face. Irritation flowed through Green when the Knight looked away from him and stayed in place. She continued to twirl her blades and take out droids.

Green ground his teeth together and wondered why he even cared if the Jedi put herself in harm's way. His chat with Lucas the other day came back to his mind. The man shook his head to try and get all thoughts of that conversation cleared from his brain. "_It's normal, Green,"_ Lucas kept taunting, making Green growl in annoyance. He noticed that his firing accuracy was suffering at the moment.

"_To have feelings." _

At this, the clone commander glimpsed at Onika. He found himself once again entranced in the way she moved with her lightsabers. It looked like it was natural, like it was a _dance_. She seemed so much more confident now compared to Geonosis, a breath of motivation behind the way she moved. Explosions went off all around her and she didn't seem to flinch. Green had to admit to himself that he was impressed with her progress, albeit he was still very frustrated at her lack of safety or respect for his experience. And, for this attack.

Lucas was right. He did have feelings for the Jedi. At the moment, he was _concerned_. It was a feeling he didn't like to have nor was encouraged to express during his training; yet, it grew more and more as he kept taking looks at the Jedi to make sure she hadn't been shot. He had no idea what was happening to him and his sanity. When they met, he had sensed this burning hatred of her and her ways and now...things were different.

In his observations of the battlefield, Green came to the same conclusion as Onika: they were not getting out of this. There were so many scenarios of what was going to lead to their downfall. The manufactured droids could outrank them soon. At some point the men will run out of charge on their blasters. The blockade could send a fleet to completely obliterate them.

Green was growing more and more agitated the longer this went on. Onika had said she would call for a retreat if they were overrun, and that happened a long time ago. He couldn't help but wonder if she was waiting for some miracle to occur and wipe out the droids.

When the sergeant next to him, Nash, flew backwards from a hit to the chest, Green sprung to his feet. He and Red worked quickly to drag Nash behind a few trees. The commander provided cover fire before turning to see if there was anything he could do. His brother was trying to find a pulse and signs of breathing, but it seemed there was no hope for the sergeant.

"We can't keep going on like this, _vod_," Red said, exasperated. He had seen far too many of his brothers fall this past week that he could not save.

"I'll go get the general."

The ARC trooper sidestepped incoming fire. His training forced him into a roll, tucking his DC-14 to his chest as his right shoulder came into contact with the ground. Coming up to his feet, the man shuffled across the field. He stopped sparsely to return shots and help his brothers along the way. As the commander dodged his way towards Onika, he felt a mix of anger, rage, and worry all at once.

"Why haven't you given the retreat order?" he bellowed as he slunk down behind her in a kneeling position. Between the twirls of her blades, he fired at the droids.

"Kenobi said the 57th might be able to break through the blockade." _Might_. It was a word the commander hated.

"It's too late!" he yelled. This woman was going to be the death of him surely. Green couldn't help but pity her lap-dog devotion to the Masters of her sacred religion. It was as if she actually believed the _kriffing_ lies they drooled from their mouths.

Onika evaded a shot whilst twirling her blades to block another. "I know, but if we leave, the droid forces will then outnumber Kenobi's side of the battle!" she cried out, knowing Obi-Wan wouldn't be so inclined to run from a battle.

"Then he should retreat as well!" Ka'on sighed, knowing he was right. If Kenobi did not follow her, he was a fool. Looking from the commander to the battlefield, the Knight conceded. "Call the order," she said. Green nodded a "yes ma'am" and activated his comm wrist. As soon as the transmission went through, Onika could feel Kenobi's confusion through the Force. He reached out to her from across the battlefield, asking her what in the blazes she was doing.

Green quirked a brow in curiosity as the woman seemed to be staring at the 212th general. He gauged that they must be doing that telepathic-Jedi-mind-reading thing. He didn't look into it much further, just being content with Onika following his advice.

As the orders spread through the battalion, Onika looked back to see her men slowly receding back into the treeline, their walkers banking to fall back. Kenobi's forces were still pushing forward, the Council member having not taken the hint that they needed to go. Ka'on decided for herself that if Obi-Wan chose to stay, he would be responsible for the deaths of his men.

Pushing away all fear of punishment from the Order, the general began taking steps back. She only progressed enough so that she was the furthest one on the battlefield, shielding as many men as she could in doing so. However, a sharp cry cut her from her focus, nearly causing her to be shot in the head. While deflecting a spray of blaster fire, the Jedi turned around.

Thatch was crumpled up on the ground, blood splatter covering his armor. Onika rushed to his side, protecting him from incoming fire. The man was pressing against his side in agony, crying out in pain as he tried to apply pressure to stop the bleeding. Ka'on inched closer and closer to him, finally able to kneel down by his side as a retreating walker approached them.

Sheathing her blades as the enemy fire shifted to Kenobi's advancing troops, the 66th general reached underneath the shattered armor pieces. Finding the gash in his side, Onika applied a lot of force, causing the man to squirm and grip her hand with his blood-soaked glove. "_Fierfek,"_ he cursed, his head rolling back from the pain. "Go on without me," he groaned, trying to push away her hand. Onika narrowed her eyes at him, "Never. We don't leave anyone behind."

The vehicle stopped, a couple troopers hopping off the top of the AT-TE to help Onika. She kept her hand pressed on him, ignoring the feeling of his oozing flesh. Once one of the soldiers pulled out enough gauze from their medpacs to start treatment, she allowed them to take over. She was more useful defending them anyways.

The walker was a hot target, so the Jedi shuffled around the big lump of metal to parry any blaster or tank fire coming its way. As soon as Thatch was loaded up, a clone called out to her and the AT-TE began moving again, troopers climbing on top of it or holding onto the sides. Onika glanced behind her at the transport and used the Force to propel her up into the air. The Jedi landed gracefully on top of the retreating walker and continued to twirl and spin.


	12. 12: A Tough Decision

_a/n: Thank you again everyone for your lovely reviews! :) I have changed the name of the story to fit with the plotline a little more. Jate'kara means "destiny" in Mando'a, which connects to Onika's hidden heritage. I have also decided to start posting the Mando'a terms and their translations at the beginning of the chapter. I hope you enjoy reading :) - Echo _

_Mando'a glossary: _

_Vod/ Vod'ika - Brother/ Little Brother or Sister_

_Aliit - Family, clan _

_Fek - Fuck _

_Ret'urcye mhi, ori'vod - Goodbye, big brother _

_Aruetii - Traitor _

_Osik - shit, bullcrap _

**Chapter Twelve: A Tough Decision **

_**The Battle of Lothal, Part 2**_

Grayson slept peacefully, not stirring in whatever dream he was having. His rough, calloused hands gripped the edges of his blanket in bliss. The clone sergeant was completely unaware of the coming danger. Onika gazed at him with a guilt stricken heart as her thoughts raced. He had taken care of her ever since Geonosis, and taught her many things. Grayson was like an older brother to her, a mentor. And now his life was in her hands.

Force healing had helped to seal the wound and accelerate the body's recovery time. Ka'on was able to progress his rehabilitation in ten minutes what weeks would take. Still, the man was far from fully restored.

She reached over and gripped his forearm, a Mandalorian show of respect. The Jedi's head dipped in contemplation as the heavy weight of her decision making bore down on her. Not only Grayson's life, but the lives of her entire battalion and the straggler crew members depended on her.

There was an empty bed next to Grayson, soaked with blood. It had been Thatch's. Now he was buried alongside his brothers, their helmets rested on top of the mounds and funeral pyres. The medics tried to save him, but his injuries proved too much. Ka'on remembered how he told her to leave him behind, because he probably knew he was going to die.

Onika thought back to the events that had only occurred just an hour ago as they arrived back at camp.

_Ka'on hopped off the back of the walker, looking on as medics rushed Thatch out from the gangway. Green walked up to her, also spectating the consequences of their attack. She felt his desire to berate her. In this case, she knew she deserved it. Onika swerved her head to gaze into the commander's visor. He seemed taken aback by this, also peering down at her. The man was dismayed to find her face riddled with surrender and hopelessness. _

_No. He wouldn't let her be like this. Green wanted the stubborn, Jedi-stoic Onika back. Her eyes were dull and tired, not fiery and bright like they normally were. It was at this moment the man felt the urge to push away the hair in her face and tell her everything was going to be okay, even if it was a lie. Why did he want to do that? _

_Ka'on became aware of the awkward air between them and planted her attention elsewhere, confused as to why he wasn't yelling at her yet. She tried to focus on the chaos of men returning to camp and getting medical aid, but could only feel the intense look Green was giving her. His Force signature was cooling off the longer he stared at her, quite the opposite from usual. Onika didn't know if this was a good or bad thing; either way it unnerved her. Yet, she felt that pull again. _

_This time, instead of being pulled towards the battalion as she once told the Chancellor, she felt pulled towards _him. _He could feel it too. _

_The shouting of their names saved both commanding officers from further mental torture. _

"_Onika!" Harper called out, slowing down his sprint. He stopped just a few feet short of the general, out of breath. Ghost hunched over, also having a hard time. Both Ka'on and Commander Green knew this was bad, as clones were conditioned to have stamina and a fast pace. Onika placed a hand on Ghost's right shoulder and turned to Harper. "Yes, corporal?" _

_Between breaths, the man said, "We stayed back like you said. The droids are coming this way." _

"_They followed us?" Green barked, looking at Onika. Her face had gone white with fear. She pivoted around, heart pounding as she took in all the wounded men and frantic soldiers. They splashed in the mud as they hurried to cram more men into the medical tents. How were they supposed to protect themselves with so many wounded men? _

"_What are we going to do?" Onika barely heard Ghost ask. His voice was distant to her as she tried to muster up some Jedi calm and dull her senses to reset them. Green and Harper sounded like they were passing ideas back and forth before the commander put a hand on her shoulder and shook her lightly. It was not aggressive or rushed, rather almost out of concern for her. _

_Onika held up a hand as a signal that she was alright. Green acknowledged this and let her go, taking a step back. Ghost and Harper seemed to share a confused look at their cordial exchange, but said nothing as the current situation was too great to ignore. "Get me General Kenobi," Onika said calmly, gesturing her head in the direction of the command tent. Harper took the initiative to carry out the order, stringing along his batchmate. This left Onika and Green standing there. _

_For a moment, the clone allowed himself to ponder over his feelings. There was something developing between the two of them. He had no clue if the Jedi knew of it with all of her seemingly endless wisdom on the thoughts and feelings of others. She was always able to read people, especially Green with how forward he was with his hostile personality. It concerned him if she felt what he did, and how she would react to it. Maybe he should tell her..._

"_I'll be in the medbay," Onika said softly, not daring to look Green in the visor. The commander slightly jolted from being pulled out of his contemplation. He nodded, stepping aside to let her go, albeit reluctantly._

Onika opened her eyes back to the present, feeling the sergeant moving around. His blue eyes peeled open groggily. They were dull and tired, his body drained of energy. Ka'on shot up in relief, a wide smile on her face. "Grayson," she called out, earning the attention of the medics. The man in question looked around slowly in confusion. "Where am I?" he said hoarsely.

With a half smile, the Jedi placed her hand on the sergeant's shoulder, feeling how cold it was. "The medbay," she answered. Grayson seemed to struggle a little, his body twitching until he felt pain from his wound. With a grunt, the clone went still again, glancing up at the general. "What happened?" he asked.

"You were injured in the crash."

Grayson's eyes widened again, this time as he recalled the tragic event. "The boys," he called out, "I got separated from them. They-"

"Are just fine," Onika cut him off, removing her hand. He looked to her, "They are?" She smiled back at him, sending strength to him through the Force. Grayson calmed and breathed out slowly, reveling in the brief lapse in pain. "Yes, thanks to you," Onika responded.

The sergeant shifted uncomfortably, reluctant to accept credit. "I did what I had to do," he said. His commanding officer smiled and looked at his injuries. "As I wish I should have done," came her weak voice. Grayson frowned and glared at the woman. "This is not your fault," he barked, blue eyes dark with anger, "It's your Council's orders that got us here, not you."

Ka'on scoffed and folded her arms, "I followed those orders, so it's on me." Grayson rolled his eyes and looked away from her. "Death is a natural part of war, _vod'ika_." Regardless that his words came out harsh, the sentiment behind the nickname he had for her brought a smile to the Jedi Knight. Grayson often called her 'little sister' in the past couple months as he continued to train and guide her.

As one of the first few clones to loyally follow her, Grayson was very supportive of her decisions. He knew she did not intend for all of this death to occur. GAR Intel had gotten far more of his brothers killed so far, so she was a saint compared to their leadership. The sergeant heard Green's attitude in the way she berated herself. He did not approve of the way the commander constantly tore her down. It annoyed him that she was slowly adopting Green's opinions of her.

"We lost Thatch today," Onika started, trying to shift the topic. Grayson's expression molded into a mournful scowl as he worked his jaw. The lieutenant was a good man and had served by his side since Geonosis. "_Ret'urcye mhi, ori'vod,_" he whispered. _Goodbye, big brother._ Onika nodded her head at this, grasping the sergeant's attention. He knew she had picked up a few Mando'a words here and there, but her understanding of the phrase was surprising.

She had told Lucas to keep her heritage a secret. The young Knight had been scared the men would see her as an outcast, an _aruetii_. A _traitor_. But slowly, she was letting it peek through. Only a few of the men knew, and kept her past under wraps out of respect.

She gave Grayson a wink, making him smirk. She held up a finger, signaling to keep quiet about it. Grayson mimicked the gesture and sent another wink back. A flash of pride came across his face.

The Jedi's appreciative smile faltered as she pondered her decision. There was no way she could let these men die, especially with the amount of respect and devotion clones like Grayson have come to show her.

"I have a big choice to make," she said when the sergeant seemed curious of her sudden change in demeanor. "Why?" he asked, trepidation evident in his voice as he scoured through what could be going on. The man had been out for nearly a week.

Taking a deep breath, Onika's golden eyes flickered with hesitation. Grayson needed rest, not stress over the potential tragedy yet to come. However, Onika couldn't bring herself to keep her _vod_ in the dark. "The droids are on their way here," her words were forced out of her curled lips.

Grayson stilled. Fear filled his blue eyes and he gulped. "How many?"

"Harper said hundreds," she answered, "Maybe a thousand." Her officer looked around at the countless injured men who could not defend themselves. "What are we going to do?" he let out as he pictured the devastation and turmoil.

"I don't know, _vod_." Onika stared at her hands. Even though she had washed them, she could still see Thatch's blood on them, haunting her. As she heard his cries in pain while the medics tried desperately to stop the bleeding and save him, the Knight felt anger coursing through her veins. A rising darkness.

Harper ran into the general on her way out of the medical tent. He escorted her back to the command post, where Kenobi and the Jedi Council were waiting to speak with her. Onika trudged her way through the swampy earth as the corporal lifted the canvas flaps for her to enter. With her head held high, the woman strode up to the holoprojector and crossed her arms, trying to appear unhappy. The Onika within her that once rebelled against the Council was starting to manifest itself.

Green was standing there as well, regarding her with interest. There was an awkwardness in the way they looked at each other, sharply turning away when they felt their Force signatures interact.

"I am sorry to hear of your losses, Onika," Windu said, trying to groom her for bad news. She would not have it, retaining a cold hard stare at the former Master of the Order. When the Knight did not offer any response, the Korun Jedi clicked his tongue and looked to Master Kenobi. Obi-Wan seemed disturbed by Ka'on's attitude, giving her a glance before turning to Windu.

Green felt himself smirk under his helmet. He was actually proud of Onika and the way she stood up to the Council member. At Kenobi's concerned look, he had to bite his lip in order to hold back a chuckle. Looking over at his general, he could swear he saw her lip twitch in a smile, if only for a second.

"We sustained heavy casualties," Kenobi reported, "And many of our transports have been destroyed. It looks like we'll be stuck here for awhile."

"Indeed," Ki-Adi Mundi spoke up. Only Windu, Mundi, and Yoda were able to attend this meeting, all other Councilmen occupied on the warfront or other Jedi business. That, or they could not find themselves bothered enough to listen to the troubles of others. "But we cannot give up on Lothal now. It is too important to lose," the Cerean Jedi spoke.

"Understood," Obi-Wan said, "We can probably hold out for another week until the cruisers come back around for another landing attempt." Windu grunted at this, "The 57th is having a hard time breaking through the blockade. Commander Falcon has requested reinforcements from the Rancor Brigade."

At the mention of the airborne commander, Onika perked up. She was concerned for the man she had run multiple missions with. Though reserved, Falcon was kind to her and had even offered for her to get a drink with him and his crew before. Ka'on had politely denied the offer, but should she make it through, would definitely take them up on it. _Fek_ the rules.

"Break through the blockade, they must," Yoda spoke up, looking at Onika. He had sensed his former Padawan's worries. "Break through it, they will," he assured her. She shrugged off her emotions and looked at the Council, preparing her announcement.

"The droid army is tracking down my battalion through the grasslands."

All of the Masters snapped their heads to her, shock evident in their stares. Ka'on did not react or allow them to respond. "My scouts estimate we have five hours before they will reach our position and take out the last of my forces."

Green shifted uncomfortably at her statement. She almost made it sound like their downfall was already set in stone. As if there was nothing she could do about it.

Kenobi spoke first. "Surely, the droids will not forfeit their position in the capital. They'll most likely turn around and refortify the numbers they lost in the attack." Ka'on ground her teeth at this and tried her best not to snap at the older Jedi. Mundi nodded, "I concur with Master Kenobi. The droids would not be illogical enough to leave the city undefended."

"The droids have enough numbers to spare a battalion looking for us," Onika spoke with urgency, "They will-"

"If you leave your position in the grasslands, you will not be in close enough proximity to join up with Kenobi's forces for the next assault," Windu interrupted, his face blank. Onika inhaled and stared at him. Green looked between the two, seething with rage. Onika was speaking the truth and for some reason, they chose to ignore her.

"And if I stay the droids will wipe out my men," Onika restated, looking at Windu with the same blank expression. There was a deeply-seeded tension between the two of them that Green noticed. He was the only Council member she spoke negatively about, though he didn't think she really liked any of them apart from her old Master.

"If the 57th can break through the blockade and intercept the droid army," Kenobi tried to console Ka'on and Windu, "Then there wouldn't be a need for any of us to give up our ground."

"Speak with Commander Falcon, I will," Yoda joined in on Obi-Wan's attempt at compromise. However, none of this satisfied the young Knight. She looked to both Masters in disbelief. How could they not see that there was no time for any of this? It would take a miracle for the blockade to fall apart in the next five hours. Falcon did not have that kind of fire power without reinforcements. Reinforcements that were not coming.

'It's settled then," Windu declared, a victorious smirk playing on his face, "Generals Kenobi and Ka'on will wait for the 57th's support until we can send reinforcements from Muunilinst."

Kenobi appeared to turn to say something to Onika, but she reached over and turned off the holotable. Green jerked his head towards her, dumbstruck. She had just _hung up_ on the Jedi Council. He had no idea if he should be proud or worried.

Onika's upper lip curled almost into a snarl as her fiery amber eyes glared at the projector. Anger danced on her face and her fingers gripped the table harshly. She felt her old self rising up again and rolled her head around, popping the tension in her neck.

Did they want her dead? Were they finally going to silence her because she knew too much? These were all questions the Knight asked herself darkly.

"General," Green spoke quietly to grab her attention. She ignored him and continued squeezing the holotable until her knuckles turned white. Her teeth ground and her eyes slowly dulled back to a golden hue. When the commander moved himself into her view, she straightened out and rubbed a hand over her tired face. "I'm going to get hell for that," she said.

Green held back a chuckle as to not agitate her, but still said, "If we make it out of this." Ka'on nodded and activated her wrist comm. Lucas greeted her on the other side. "I need you to bring in as many of the officers as possible," she ordered. "Everything okay, Onika?" he asked. The Knight exhaled and said a little more cold than she wanted, "Just do it, Captain." She would have to apologize for that later.

The ARC trooper didn't know who he was looking at. All of Onika's faithful obedience and kind personality seemed to have melted away. It revealed a person that reminded him of...himself. Odd, he thought. This was not the Ka'on he had grown attached to the last few months.

"What are you getting at, general?" he asked, not sure if he would get a reply. She shifted, peering at him from the corner of her eyes. "We have to prepare the men," her response came curtly, with an undertone of annoyance. Green's nose crinkled at this and he found himself cracking his knuckles. "So we are staying here?" he growled lowly. Onika narrowed angry eyes at him, as if he had insulted her.

There was much turmoil in the young Knight. So many parts of her told her to give up on the Council and save as many of her men as she could. However, the part of her she hated and wanted gone resurfaced, reminding her of what happens when you disobey the Jedi Council. She had the scars to show, and did not want any more coming her way or Aloke's way. Windu knew how to control her, and did so viciously.

Green kept his distance from General Ka'on, sitting on a crate in the corner of the tent. He brought up one knee for his arm to rest upon while he clenched his fists and stared off at nothing. When the officers started pouring in, he did not greet his brothers, choosing to remain silent. A couple of the mud-covered clones tried to get him to talk, but failed.

Onika stood next to the holoprojector, sorrow dripping off of her and anger radiating through the Force. All the clones felt it, as well as noticed the uncharacteristic display of irritation from the woman. Lucas approached her, a knowing look on his face. Bad news was coming and the general did not look happy.

"We're all here, ma'am," he spoke gently, trying to ease her. His soft eyes attempted to meet hers, but Onika continued to grimace and step past him. Worry for her formed on the captain's face, him nearly reaching a hand out to reassure her.

The general stood up in front of the men, arms folded.

"In five hours," she started, the officers' heads perking up, "The droid army will find our camp and overrun it." A series of outbursts began, but the Knight silenced them. "The Council has _assured_," she said the word with disdain, "that Commander Falcon and his men can rescue us before that happens."

Deathly silence fell upon the room. It was choking, heavy and muggy. Every man knew that this was a lie, or at least a promise that knowingly could not be fulfilled. "But?" Wyatt asked, his voice pleading for her to save them. Onika looked to him with regret, repeating curiously "'But?'" The medic of Beta squad frowned at her and glanced around as others seemed to find fault in her.

"You believe them?" Vy inquired, his eyes accusatory at his commanding officer. "That outcome is a bunch of _osik_ and you know it." Ka'on shot him a warning glare, telling him not to curse at her like that. The man straightened himself out, seeing Green's commanding look in her eyes.

"I have no other choice," Onika said finally. The men around her cried out in disagreement, throwing her to question. "We could leave and find another campsite," Shark called out, his hands waving about. Beside him, Skye nodded. "We have enough vehicles left to move the wounded out of here."

"I proposed a retreat to the Council," Ka'on said, "But they denied my request and told me to stay put."

"Bunch of bastards," Domino said angrily, the Aubresh tattoo on his forehead creased as he glared at the ground. Onika huffed at this and turned her back on the men, head shaking.

"The wounded won't stand a chance, Onika," Lucas started. His signature bumped her own, begging her for help. She looked to him, guilt and fear on her face. The man recoiled at this, stepping closer to her and tilting his head. "I cannot disobey the Council again," she was barely able to breath out. Through the Force, she could sense curiosity and confusion in the men. None of them knew the true darkness of the Jedi Order, or at least what it did to it's rebellious pupils.

Onika knew they were all right. She was being selfish at the moment, thinking only of herself and Aloke's consequences should she go against Windu's orders. The Knight could still feel the stinging pain as punishment. Her eyes softened as she turned around to face them all again. What was a worse outcome? Feeling the Council's wrath, or watching all of the men she has grown to call her brothers die without a fighting chance?

The men quieted at her sombered look. She memorized all of their faces. Even though they appeared to be a copy of the same man, each brother was different to her. Unique. She had grown close to almost every man under her command in one way or another. Ka'on was worried about what would happen to Aloke, her family; but, now these men were her family as well. _Aliit_.

"What will they do?" Lucas asked, all of the men attentive for an explanation. Onika couldn't bring herself to look at them, memories flooding to her. She wiped away the corner of her eyes and moved away from Lucas. "That doesn't matter now," she said, walking away. After looking around, the Knight discovered Green staring at her intensely. Mostly, his signature was full of anger and feeling betrayed by her, but there was something else there: sympathy. Onika didn't know why, but somehow he understood what she had gone through in the past.

Maybe his training was similar to hers, she thought. Brushing away the thinking, Ka'on turned to Lucas. "I need you and Green to set up scouts so we know exactly when the droids will get here." The captain looked at his general in dismay before n odding loyally. She then disappeared from the tent, leaving the men to look at each other in disbelief. Disbelief that the woman they came to admire had chosen defeat.

Had chosen death.

Lucas glanced at his older brother, his face a puzzle of worry. Green merely shook his head and lowered it to stare solemnly at the ground.

Onika had to get away from that tent. The captain's words had brought back horrible memories of her past that made her shiver. Ka'on kept walking as far as she could as every cut and bruise found its way onto her body. She remembered the searing pain, the agony as Aloke's screams deafened her ears. The Togruta's bright baby blue eyes were dark with fear, tears streaking down her face.

As the Jedi Knight opened her eyes, she found herself in front of the thousands of graves. After the bodies were burned to avoid them being eaten by wild animals, the men had buried the ashes and laid their helmets on the mounds as gravestones. This way, Onika could see the face of each man she had lost.

Wind rustled through the grasslands again. A low whoosh fluttered in the air. The clouds were dark and depressing. On top of it all, a sprinkle came upon the land. Onika blinked a few times as droplets fell on her face, plopping onto the dirt below. _Tink, tink._ The rain pattered onto the charcoal-smudged helmets, washing away some of the dirt and crusted blood splatters.

Her lips curled as her eyes began to water. A sob escaped her mouth and she covered it. All of these men used to walk past her every day, going about their business. Looking over them, Ka'on recounted conversations she had with them, meals she ate with them, training she endured with them. The tears continued to flow as the burden of failure weighed itself upon the Jedi. She finally allowed herself to fully process the devastation and toll war took upon her.

Blood, broken limbs, shattered armor, charred skin, cries of agony...

This was the truth, the hard cost of victory. Battles would be lost like this, losing thousands, but it was all a part of the bigger picture. Death was inevitable and a natural part of war. Onika couldn't stop it anymore than she could stop the sun from rising. At least, that's what the Council wanted her to believe.

And if she continued on their path, all of her men would die, herself included.

Ka'on knelt down on the earth, a hand placed on Thatch's helmet. Her thumb went to wipe away some debris, the rainfall helping her. The white and green plastoid stared back at her, bringing back the last conversation they would ever have.

"_Go on without me."_

Onika frowned, remembering the anger she felt then. She was angry that Thatch had lost all hope for himself and was ready to die. No one should go out that way.

"_We don't leave anyone behind."_

The Knight's own words came back to torment her, to scold her. She had promised Thatch he would not die alone and they will not leave them behind. However, that's exactly what she would do to his brothers if she ordered them to stay. Onika looked up, glancing at the graves surrounding Thatch. A few of his fellow platoon troopers were laid beside him, having lost their lives during the capital attack.

Ka'on made her decision right then and there. She would do this for Thatch, for his brothers. Even though she could not save herself, she would save her family.

Green stopped in the middle of his battle plans when the general slid past the canvas flaps. His black visor stared back as her eyes sought him out. The blue displays of the holotable reflected off his helmet, a blue hue cast upon the commander. With a hard swallow, the Knight gestured to the men surrounding Green. Shark, Skye, Lucas, and Striker. They all seemed to regard her cautiously. She could tell they felt betrayed and that she would have to earn that trust back.

Hopefully, this last act would do just that.

"May I speak with Green alone, please?"

Lucas snapped his head to the aforementioned clone, who still had not broken eye contact with her. Taking Green's silence as confirmation, the Phantom Company officer gently guided his brothers away. Onika could feel herself cringe as they grimaced while walking past her.

Ka'on felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Lucas giving her a soft glance. She nodded to him, a look of determination on her face. A smile played on the man's lips as he knew what this meant. Patting her shoulder one last time, the clone trooper pulled on his helmet and stepped out into the pouring rain, water splashing off his shoulders.

Rain pattered on the top of the tent, creating an almost calming sound. The two broken souls stepped closer to each other. Onika kept her eyes on the holotable, analyzing the reports from the scouts. The droid army headed their way looked to number well over a thousand; likely two full battalions.

Green's neck strained to look at her. In his mind, she was still set on staying. He hated her for it, but still could not deny his feelings for her. The man contemplated telling her, knowing neither one of them would make it out of this. What harm could come out of spilling secrets that would die with them?

"You're angry with me," Onika said bluntly, finally tilting her head up to peer at him. This earned her an amused scoff. "That is one hell of an understatement, General," he spat. The Jedi nodded acceptingly, knowing she deserved it. She had practically told the men she was going to let them die.

Rage was building up in the clone, mixed emotions driving his fury further and further to a breaking point. Onika tried to hold up a hand to calm him like she did days ago. However, Green recognized this and swatted away her hand, though not too harshly. "No, listen to me," he barked, "You want me to stay here and let them all-"

"Green," Ka'on tried to interject sweetly, again holding up her hand. Green felt himself blush at the kindness in her tone; it was one of the many things he liked and wanted to see in her. Yet, her voice fell upon deaf ears as the commander's patience finally broke. All at once, his Force signature exploded.

"If we stay here, those droids will find us and kill us all," Green shouted, pointing towards the door of the tent. He then jabbed a finger at his own chestplate. "I don't want to watch my _brothers_, the men I grew up with, be slaughtered." The way he said the last sentence came out broken and hurt.

Onika looked up at this. As much pain she was in the last few days, she couldn't fathom what the man before her felt. Ka'on's heart ached with the sheer agony this man was in. Something dark within him had shown itself, most likely from his past.

The Knight didn't have the time to delve into what was causing him so much pain, but it affected her nonetheless. The commander's suppressed emotions erupting all at once paired with Onika's scorned soul caused her to spiral.

Green was surprised to find her face wet with a trail of tears. His signature softened and his eyes dulled in guilt. Had he done this to her? Made her cry? The man froze, scared she would burst into a fit of sobbing any second. He didn't want that.

Ka'on reached up and grasped his hand, gently guiding it away from his chest. "You won't," she said. Green glanced at her touch, her fingers curled around the curve of his thumb. Her hand was so much smaller than his own, but the power within it calmed him. That same rush of cooling energy flowed through him, the Jedi sending him tranquility. It was so balming that he wanted to pull her closer to him and enjoy that feeling. Something held him back.

"If we leave," Onika started, her hand still around Green's, "The droids might still be able to find us." Green tilted his head at her sentence, pressing her to explain. He was finding it hard to focus with her touching him; even the slightest embrace sent a rush of heat through him to his core.

The woman looked downwards and slowly released his gloved hand, her own falling to her sides. Green flinched at this, not wanting her to pull away. He wanted her closer.

"That's why I am going to distract them while you all get away," her voice came out raspy, sadness obvious as she sniffled and turned away from him. "Therefore, I am still following their orders without endangering any of you." Green straightened out, "You can't mean…" No. He would not let her sacrifice herself like that. She would be killed easily.

Admittedly, Green needed her. There was something about her that drew him in and kept him there. The thought of losing her...was gut wrenching.

"I do," Onika said, facing the clone officer once more while wiping away her tears. She was only able to maintain eye contact for a few seconds. The sheer disapproval radiating off of him was too much to bear. Green shook his head and leaned down so his face was in hers. "You're not going to kill yourself," he muttered darkly.

Ka'on felt her heart swell at the words. It was an unexpected feeling that almost made her blush. The Knight had felt the unorthodox relationship forming between them; the last week's events having brought them closer oddly enough. Despite their differences, neither person wanted to see the other hurt or killed. Onika could sense Green sincerely cared, even though he would never say it straightforward.

"Green, I have to do this," she claimed. Before he could counter, the woman held up a hand and raised her brows. "It is my fault we are in this situation," she continued despite Green's hand swiping away hers, "I will take on the consequences."

"_Fek_ that," Green cursed, anger building up, "I won't watch you die either." Onika huffed at this, her head drooping. "I will not order the men to die with me," she said. Her commander stood straight and clenched his fists, looking away from her. "Good luck trying to get me to leave you behind," was all he said before marching out of the tent in his usual fashion.

Ka'on smiled weakly at this, for once feeling wanted by him. Though, she was dejected that they would die just as they had started to take a liking to each other; if one was to call it that.

Green looked up into the rain once he let go of the canvas flaps. His eyes closed for a moment, fists still balled up as the water collided with his helmet. _What are you doing, soldier?_ He asked himself, wondering how his years of brutal training could be compromised by this Jedi Knight. Since the day he met her, he knew she would distract him. At the time, Green thought it for the worst; yet, the ARC trooper was starting to believe it was for the better.

Instead of bringing out the monster in him, Onika dug out the deep part of him the Kaminoans tried so hard to destroy and bury. The human part of him. Against everything he has done or said to her, the Jedi still saw the good in him and tried her best to impress him. Green realized she was good for him and that he _needed_ her. He could not let her make this decision alone.


	13. 13: The Living Force

_a/n: Sorry for the delay, work has been crazy and I struggled writing this chapter. Things weren't fitting as I wanted them to and rewrites happened multiple times. Hopefully I made it up by writing a longer chapter! I want to take the time to thank you guys for your support on the last chapter, it really made my day :) _

_**I-got-zapped:**_ _Thank you! I wrote the chapter after watching the finale of TCW and definitely tried to pour in a lot of emotion. Hopefully this one gets you too! Hehe _

_**KanadeAkatsuki13:**_ _I knnooooww right? There's a lot of turmoil going on and a lot more to go! _

_Thanks to my guest reviewers as well for encouraging me to keep writing. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and more to come :P - Echo _

Mandalorian glossary:

_Ret'urcye mhi, ori'vod -_ Goodbye, big brother/sister

_Vod - _Brother, sister

_Kriff - _Frick, fuck

_Aliit_ \- Family

_Fierfek_ \- Fuck, crap

**Chapter Thirteen: The Living Force **

_**The Battle of Lothal, Part 3**_

Retreat preparations were frantic. With only four hours to pack up and get out, the 66th Army Battalion found themselves in a fit of chaos. Soldiers ran back and forth everywhere, creating a blurred sea of muddled green and white armor.

The critically injured troopers who could not walk were loaded up onto the Juggernaut transport first, then what men they could fit were crammed on board the walkers. Some even had to ride on top of the vehicles. The gunships were reserved for transporting ammunition, rations, and medical supplies. Quite a few crates had to be left behind, leaving the battalion with only a few days worth of food and supplies.

So it seems even if they escaped, they would face the danger of starvation or infection. Onika truly regretted not leaving camp days ago when Green called for it, as they would have been able to take more supplies. And, they wouldn't have participated in the disastrous capital siege. This line of thinking sent the Jedi on a downward spiral of regretting every action she has taken in this war to lead to such death.

Ka'on controlled traffic to the best of her ability, guiding supply lines and organizing casualty loading. She rushed in the past hour to get the entire camp under wraps while Green went with a few men to set up defenses and obstacles the droids would have to pass in order to get into the campsite. This would buy the Jedi Knight a few more minutes of distraction while the men marched off into the swamplands miles away.

Onika ground her teeth when her wrist beeped. The damned Council was contacting her again. After cutting off their transmission without being properly dismissed, Ka'on wagered that they were not too happy with her at the moment. However, with death on the horizon, the young woman couldn't care less. She continued to ignore their calls.

The Jedi had half a mind to throw the device on the ground and let it be consumed by the foot-thick mud lake that had been left by the heavy rainstorm. If she did not need it to communicate and coordinate traffic with the men, Onika might have done it. A last rebellion against the Council.

A strong presence in the Force came up behind her, making the Knight turn around. Green was jogging up to her, mud splashing, with two men behind him. Onika found herself gazing too long at the powerful image the commander portrayed. She blushed, knowing she was allowing herself to divulge in forbidden thoughts in the face of becoming one with the Force.

Emotions and guilty thoughts from her past had been released by the floodgates of momentary freedom. Onika had always found something about the man intriguing, beyond his aggressive tendencies. She couldn't tell if it was their shared dark pasts or something flowering between them. Whatever it was, she allowed herself to ponder it in her last moments. Ponder what could have been if she were not to die in the next few hours.

"Everything is in place, General," he reported, coming to a stop. Onika nodded in acknowledgement and gestured towards the chaos, her forbidden thoughts washed away in focus. "We'll be done shortly, then you and the boys get the hell out of here," she said firmly, implying that she would not allow the commander to stay.

Green waved his hand, sending the two men with him off into the workforce. They immediately began picking up crates to join the assembly line. Once the troopers were out of earshot, the clone commander turned to his superior officer calmly. His words came out casually, with a hint of eagerness. "I'll have Lucas take over as Commander," he started, earning a roll of the eyes, "Then you and I can take up positions on opposite sides of the camp for effectiveness."

Onika huffed and folded her arms. She felt the specks of water droplets on her face slide down as she narrowed her gaze at the officer. "Green," she said softly, speaking his name with honey. The man felt himself flex his muscles at this, trying to avoid all thoughts of affection. This wasn't the right time or place to tell her of his emotions, her thinking the same thing. Both speculated whether or not they should die with their own secrets.

"I can't let you stay and get killed," her voice was like a remedy for all the pent up anger he felt. It washed away the red in his soul and brought peace to him. Somewhere in her voice, Green could hear a fondness. "Someone needs to be able to lead the men."

"Then you go and I stay," Green suggested, blurting it out. Onika recoiled at his words and let her eyes widen. Her heart skipped a beat when she read his Force signature. It pulsed with determination and devotion. Whether the devotion was to her or the safety of his brothers, the Jedi could not tell.

Green felt himself astonished at his own words. To him, it was a final admission of how he felt. He couldn't let her die. She was too important to him in some twisted way.

"No," was her curt response. The commander would have been enraged in any other situation at her ignoring his advice; however, in this case, he felt a genuine bond forming between them. She didn't want him dead either.

"Lucas is a very capable leader," Green said, "Sometimes even more so than me. He will take care of them." Onika rubbed her temple in frustration. The ocean of riddled Force waves between them and rippling emotions paired with the coming doom made her splitting headache agonizing. "Are you so eager to die alongside a person you despise?" Ka'on bit, her words icy and conveying of how she believed Green thought of her.

The commander sobered, guilt coursing through him. Onika felt this and instantly wished to erase her accusation. "I," the man started, looking around to see if anyone was listening in, "Can't speak for how I acted months ago."

Ka'on stopped rubbing her forehead and looked up to give Green her undivided attention. He looked her in the eye through his visor, the Knight feeling him project his apology into her. "But standing here now I can say that I do _not_ despise you," he declared. Onika wanted to smile at this, but knew she needed to offer her own sincerities.

"Nor do I," she spoke, feeling a nagging voice in the back of her head. It tried to convince her to tell Green how she truly saw him. A warrior. A true leader. A partner. It wanted her to let this unorthodox bond grow and flourish, but she knew there was no time left to talk about such things.

Green straightened out, having come to the same conclusion about his own feelings. "I will not leave my General behind to die alone," he said. Ka'on internally smiled at this, feeling their Force signatures relax in resolution. They danced around dangerously, coming ever so close.

Ka'on, knowing she would not be able to coerce the man against his statement, sighed and dipped her head. "Then there's nothing left to discuss," she said. It wasn't rude or sassy, but rather said out of finality, that they both need not to push the subject further. Green nodded to this and helped direct supplies while Onika went to say a last goodbye to Alpha Squad.

* * *

Grayson, having survived the worst of his injuries, was one of the last few men to be transported. Despite his self-reported capability to walk, Red didn't want any of the many bacta bandages to slip. There was a spot on one of the walkers for him so he didn't have to be carried by one of his brothers. Red was helping move his makeshift gurney when Ka'on showed up. The medic gave her a nod of respect as she came to walk alongside them on their way to the AT-TE.

"General," the first sergeant's raspy, yet warm voice spoke. Onika looked down, a solemn smile on her face. She reached over to grasp onto his forearm, giving it a reassuring squeeze. Grayson seemed disturbed in the way he looked at his superior, blue eyes dull. "You're not coming with us, are you?" he said rhetorically, seeing the smile fade from her. "Red told me of your plan for getting us out." He coughed.

The Knight let go of his arm and glanced away. "It's the only way," she said sadly. The sergeant of Alpha Squad didn't seem convinced, and shook his head in dismay. The two both went silent as the walk continued, not sure what to say to the other. When they reached the walker, Onika looked down at the clone, knowing this would be the last time they saw each other.

"Tell the boys I said goodbye, would you?" she asked the sergeant. Grayson tried for a smile, his hand reaching out for a Mandalorian handshake. Onika accepted the gesture gratefully and put her other hand on Grayson's shoulder.

"I will," he replied, gripping her arm harder, "It was an honor serving alongside you, Onika." The Jedi sniffled and nodded. "_Ret'urcye mhi, ori'vod_," she said. _Goodbye, big brother_. Grayson at first seemed taken aback by this, but slowly allowed a smirk on his face. In the blue orbs Onika could see pride, sadness, and affection all at the same time. These men had come to be her family, and she had to go.

They let go of each other as the medics came back to lift him up onto the gangway. Onika watched as Grayson was placed next to his sickly brothers, the metal doors of the walker slammed closed. Red tapped the back hind leg of the vehicle, and the driver began plowing forward.

The senior medical officer stopped mid motion to look at his general. DC-14 hanging loosely in one hand, the man lifted the other to salute the Jedi, his signature radiating admiration and heartbreak. Onika had sensed this from many of the men, who were reluctant to lose her. Ka'on nodded Red's way, gesturing for him to go with his brothers.

Though Red was not as social as his fellow squad members, Onika had come to view him as a close friend and advisor. Whenever Lucas was absent to guide her, the medic was often there to give some of his own encouragement.

Lowering his salute, Red hesitated for only a moment before spinning on his heels and marching off with the rest of the 66th.

Wind blew through the Jedi's light brown hair, the blonde ends rising up to meet the sliver of light peeking out from the clouds. She looked on with hope as the injured clones made their escape. Hope that these men would make it out okay. Hope that her sacrifice will not be in vain.

* * *

_Meanwhile..._

"_Vod."_

Green looked over his shoulder at the approaching captain. Lucas maneuvered his way through the lines of troopers towards his older brother, an air of questioning about him. The commander took one last look as the last of the crates were squeezed into the gunships. "What is it, Captain?" he asked.

Lucas activated their private comm channel.

"We can't let her do this."

"I know," Green uttered, trying to shoo away the younger clone. "I've got it handled." His second shook his helmet and jabbed a finger at the commander's chest. "You're a strong man, brother," he started, "But you and that Jedi are no match for that droid army. It's not enough."

"It's enough of a distraction," Green declared, moving past his brother. Lucas wouldn't allow it, putting out an arm to stop him. The commander felt himself tense up and clench his fists. Right now wasn't the best time to argue with him. "Look," Lucas spoke softer, "I know you care for her."

The words made Green face Lucas. He was about to tell him to not mention it, but the captain waved him off and continued. "But that doesn't mean you need to sacrifice yourself, too." His voice was broken, showing the love he felt for his brethren and a reluctance to allow him to die, even if it was for a just cause. Lucas didn't want to let the general die either. She was _aliit_ to him, too.

Before Green could ask what Lucas suggested, the captain stepped back and gestured towards the edge of camp. "There's some men waiting for the both of you," he said. Green tilted his head before looking off into the distance. "They already said they won't obey your retreat order," Lucas said, eyes glued to the ground.

"How many?" Green inquired. He was mad that they were volunteering to die, but knew they were doing what was right. _You don't leave anyone behind_, he thought to himself.

"At first?" Lucas asked rhetorically, "Thirty."

Green felt as though someone had punched him in the chest. "Some were medics, so I turned them away," Lucas said, "The others bickered over who wanted to stay since we need to get as many men out of here as possible." The commander still seemed dumbstruck by all of this.

"Seven," the captain said reluctantly, "I myself would stay, but-"

"You're not allowed," Green barked, "I'm not losing you to this, too."

His brother smirked underneath his helmet, but it was apparent in the air between them. "Well if we all die I guess it doesn't matter if you won't have me around anymore." Green knew he was trying to make light of the situation, as the sarcastic, social captain always did. However, the older clone knew deep down Lucas was hurting and didn't want to see anyone go.

"It'll be okay, _vod_," the ARC said softer, clasping his brother's pauldron. "You'll be a better commander than I could ever be."

Lucas chuckled and shook his head. "I very much doubt that." He wasn't one for emotions, either, but was faltering at the moment. Neither clone needed to say the words out loud to each other; there was an unspoken respect between them that was always present. They had worked and trained together for years, and now that was coming to a halt.

"I'll say hello to Jango for you," Green joked. He started to pull away, knowing they were running out of time. Lucas nodded and grabbed his vod's forearm before stepping back. "Take care of the Jedi," he said back. The ARC trooper gave no reply as he watched his brother salute and take off with the other retreating clones.

Lucas sprinted to catch up with Ghost and Harper. The trio jumped up to grasp onto the handles embedded on the side of a walker. They steadied themselves, the captain giving one last glance at the clone commander he grew up with.

"Goodbye, brother", he whispered to himself.

The battle-scorn walkers disembarked towards the swamplands, gunships firing up and taking off above them. Mud sputtered underneath the massive wheels of the Juggernaut, smoke escaping its exhaust as the vehicle drove off.

* * *

Onika was standing in the middle of camp, eyes closed as she meditated. Howls of Loth-wolves whistled in the far distance as she tried to focus on peace in the Force. With all of the men gone, it was quiet and oddly tranquil. Only the sound of rain pelting the earth gently and wild birds singing in ignorance filled her senses. The Jedi wanted to soak it all up in her final moments.

Green's presence added to this. Onika was grateful that he would be there with her until the end, so that she would not die alone. She breathed in the fresh, cold air as the man drew closer. His Force signature reached out to her, and the Knight was ever so tempted to connect it with her own. Yet, all of her serenity shattered into a hundred pieces when she sensed multiple pairs of footsteps behind the commander.

"Reporting for duty, ma'am," Green said, lacking his usual sharp tongue. A few yards beyond the man stood seven clone troopers, guns pinned against their chests as they stood to attention. Onika gulped, feeling their determined minds and longing to be at her side.

Ka'on spun around slowly, looking at each man. They all faced her with a respectful salute. Onika smiled at this and motioned for them to relax. She could feel tears beginning to well up, but she forced them down with her other emotions. Right now, they needed to be strong for those that were too weak.

Each man was aware of the outcome of this skirmish. Nonetheless, the clone troopers before the Jedi Knight had stayed behind to _die_ with her. Alongside her. It was a debt Onika would never be able to repay, but would honor it by fighting til her last breath. Per their shared heritage, it was the most honorable death they could achieve: dying on the battlefield.

Elliot and Owen. Two clones that were very close brothers. Elliot was a sniper for Beta Squad, Owen his caller. They were newer to the battalion, having joined after the Talravin mission. Ka'on had worked with them closely, and now looked at them as little brothers. It pained her to know what was going to happen to them.

Lieutenant Tyler. Though the man was reckless and had a bigger ego than a bantha, Ka'on had always enjoyed his company. And, at the discovery of her knowledge of Mando'a, the two shared a newfound regard for one another. Tyler was a loyal soldier, never wavering in his devotion to serve the Republic and its people. Onika could feel him willing to die to protect his brothers and his general.

Domino, Alpha Squad's "trickster". Onika sent him a half-disappointed smile. She had told Grayson to tell the squad goodbye, not for them to stay behind. Domino shrugged his shoulders and smirked under his helmet, the Aubresh characters sporting his name just above the T-shaped visor. Just as with Grayson, there was a genuine brother-sister bond between the two. He reminded Onika all too well of her own past as a rebel and avid party-goer. She could only hope that he met an honorable and painless end.

Wess and Vel. Now these surprised Onika. Not too long ago, Wess seemed to have a disliking towards Onika, believing she was unfit to lead them. He dipped his head in apology, the man's aura radiating regret and the wish to recompense what he had said to her. None was needed, as the Jedi sent him a welcoming smile, all disparities between them forgiven. Wess seemed to brighten at this.

Ka'on hadn't worked with Sergeant Vel too closely, but appreciated the man's devotion regardless. They shared a nod of respect and the Jedi looked to the man standing next to him: Tag.

Fighting her tears was the hardest with Tag. He was her little brother, through and through. From the Battle of Geonosis to this very moment, Tag had been the most loyal clone trooper under her watch. In battle, Tag was always the first to jump in and fight alongside her, following her orders without question. Even during the attack on Lothal City, Tag did not question her.

Onika wanted to send him away, to preserve his kind heart and life. All of these men deserved to live, but something about Tag expiring felt like a punch to the gut. Ka'on hovered over Tag's mind, barely touching the surface as to see what he was thinking. The young man was scared for the coming conflict, but a part of him knew he would get to see Jay once again in the afterlife.

As Master Yoda taught her, Ka'on tried to not regret the loss of life, but rejoice in them becoming one with the Force.

With a reluctant nod, Onika finished her acknowledgements of the men and looked to the ARC trooper. He seemed to have been watching her the whole time, seeing the different faces flashing across her face.

His own was covered, but Onika felt as though she could see into him. Green's mental shield was far more powerful than his brothers, not allowing the Jedi to peer into his mind. Yet, the woman could tell that he was just as conflicted about his emotions as she was.

"Waiting for orders, ma'am," Green said, cocking his head in the direction of the volunteers. Onika nodded and looked around the ground. She found what she was trying to locate and bent down to pick up the soaked twig. The commander watched her curiously as she began drawing shapes into the mud. With a wave of his hand, the men gathered closer and knelt down to see what the Jedi was constructing.

It was a crude layout of camp, crosses marking the areas in which Green set up obstacles. "Because of the barricades," Ka'on started, pointing the stick at the drawing, "The droids will most likely march around the sides of camp here or here." She drew two arrows going around the map.

Per her logic and CIS protocol, the droids would scour the camp looking for any clone troopers before moving on to track down the retreating battalion. If they could hold off the droids long enough, the rain would swell the mud fields and cover their tracks.

"If we divide our forces and station ourselves just outside of camp in the hillsides," she paused to gesture towards the aforementioned land features, "We can wait for the droids to enter the camp and then box them in from both sides." The plan was very similar to the capital siege, which was an initial success.

"Clever," Wess spoke enthusiastically, joined in by most of the men. Green hummed in approval and seemed to scan over her plan in his head. "Our advantage won't last long," he admitted, "It's better than them surrounding us, but still might only buy us a few more minutes." Ka'on dipped her head in understanding and stood up, ditching the stick. She wiped the mud from her hands onto her thighs.

"That's a few more minutes the boys have," she claimed. The Jedi did not look for a response. Rather, she took account of the men before her once more. "Wess, take Vel, Elliot, and Owen to the east hillside. Position yourselves there and stay low until I give the command," she ordered. The mentioned clones nodded and took off, blasters clanking as they sprinted.

This left Green, Tyler, Tag, and Domino. The group made their way to the west side. Plopping themselves down on the driest part of the hillside, the clones hunkered down for a two-hour wait. Onika joined them shortly, taking position sitting beside Commander Green. He gave her a glance before checking his scopes for anything off in the distance.

Green was to Onika's left, while her right was covered by Domino, Tag, and Tyler. Domino laid down on his stomach and positioned his rifle on the ridge. Tag was beside him, also lying down, though his elbows were propped up as he looked through a pair of binoculars. Next to him was Tyler, sitting in a one-knee-bent pose as he waited.

Wess had reported in for his position, so everything would be quiet for the next couple of hours. Onika found an awkward silence in the way she laid still with the troopers, waiting for their ultimate demise. It was like cattle waiting for slaughter on a farm, or prisoners on death row eating their last meal.

All in all, Ka'on wasn't sure if she was grateful for the honorable end. It would put her mind at ease in regard to what punishment she would receive for disobeying and disrespecting the Council. However, she would never get to see her family or Aloke ever again, nor be able to protect the men she came to adore. It was a lose-lose situation.

Onika and Aloke had an unbreakable bond, one that would surely pain the Togruta when Onika died. Ka'on was worried for her sister, hoping she would recover and survive all of this madness.

Green snuck glances at Onika under the pretend observation of the landscape. A soldier didn't get many moments of peace, but he sought out what he could. He had learned to appreciate the small things, things that might be insignificant to others. A drink with his brothers, perhaps. Or a quiet game of cards after a harsh battle. A sip of caf.

In this case, Green appreciated the way her hair waved in the wind. It curled around her shoulders and fluttered past her face. Small strands flew past her brows, carrying the man's gaze to her eyes. Her eyelashes batted, lifting to reveal golden honey gazing off into the grasslands. The commander had always found it hard not to get lost in those brown orbs, feeling as though they could look into his soul and calm it.

She must have sensed his stare, as her attention turned to him. His breath caught in his chest and he immediately felt an embarrassed rush of red creep up his neck. Onika, however, didn't seem to pay it any mind, as she turned away when Domino nudged her. Green was grateful for the saving grace, despite not having to endure any consequences with the time clock running out.

"Yes, Sergeant?" Onika asked casually as the man handed her his pair of binoculars.

"You might want to take a look," came Domino's cracked voice. Ka'on peered at him skeptically before following his instruction. Bringing the device to her eyes, the Jedi Knight's stomach dropped. Green heard her suck in a breath of terror and transferred his eyes to his scopes.

"_Fierfek_," he muttered.

"How many?" Tyler asked from the other side of the group, not having any long-range field equipment of his own. Beside him, Tag lowered his binoculars and huffed in despair. "Easily three battalions," he said. The lieutenant growled and clutched his weapon.

"Wess," Green spoke through his HUD. The platoon leader responded immediately, "_I read you, sir."_

"You and the boys get ready," he said, "We've got hell coming our way."

* * *

Metal clinked together as the B1 battle droids marched in formation towards the camp, super battle droids tailing them. When their commander saw the obstacles laid out, it made the order to go around to the east side of the camp site. Most of the makeshift tents had been packed up, leaving only a few stragglers and abandoned crates laying around. Still, the droids searched what they could, knocking over boxes and ripping apart tents.

The hidden clones watched as the droid army stepped into their hideout. They were covered in mud, only a small amount of emerald green peeking out, which blended in with the grass.

Green shifted in his low-crawl position. His twin pistols were gripped firmly in his hands as he zoomed in on the droids through his HUD. "Half of the first battalion is in," he said through the modulator on his helmet.

Beside him, the Jedi Knight nodded and moved to grab her lightsabers, mud squelching underneath her. Domino adjusted his rifle, the butt resting on his shoulder. The sergeant looked over at Tag, who was observing the droids' movements with his sniper rifle. Tyler had his DC-14 in hand, ready to fire as soon as Onika gave word.

On the opposite side of camp, Wess and Vel were perched on a hillside, completely hidden behind a series of shrubs. Elliot's rifle poked out of one of the fauna, Owen sitting beside him with binoculars and a blaster with its stand propped open. They were eager to fire upon the droids walking past them unbeknownst of their presence.

Tag looked at the other group with his scope, then pulled away to look at Ka'on. "Give us the signal whenever you're ready, ma'am," he whispered.

Onika's gut wrenched when she felt all four men looking at her expectantly. The most intense gaze came from Green, who was enduring conflicted emotions. She tried to reach out and calm him, but he turned away, frustration boiling within him.

Defeated, the Jedi slowly rose to her feet, lightsabers in hand. Taking in a deep breath, she took in her surroundings. Soft grass, mud, crisp air. The gentle hum of birds and thunder rolling in the distance. A wind that caressed her body and danced in her hair. Her eyes, golden with an assured look of determination, opened to gaze down at the oblivious droids.

She said nothing as her fingers slid across the floral pattern on her hilts. They rested upon the buttons, hesitating for only a fraction of time. Green blades sparked to life at the Jedi's sides, her grip firm. Onika twirled them into a reverse stance just above the heads of the starstruck clones. They watched in awe as she squatted low before taking off into the air, the Force propelling her high above the battlefield.

The Knight landed gracefully in front of a droid platoon within a ring of tents, mud splashing onto her calves. The droids seemed surprised at first before their programming registered her as the enemy. As the clankers aimed their weapons, Ka'on eyes looked up at them, sharp and blazing amber. With a smirk, she spun around, slicing off the droids' heads.

As the bodies crashed to the ground, the next line of droids readied their weapons. Onika twisted her blades to parry blaster fire before beheading them just as their predecessors. The next few lines shared the same fate, being either sliced, stabbed, or decapitated.

Even the droids attempting to outflank her were destroyed. As if she had eyes on the back of her head, the Jedi Knight swung her blades behind her back to deflect shots. The red hot bolts were sent back to their owners without the woman ever taking a glance back. She was in tune with the Force, using it to show her every move on the battlefield and predict the droids' movements. It was a view to behold.

"_Kriff_," Domino breathed out. To his left, Green nodded. The commander sheathed his pistols and slung the DC-14 off of his back. "Let's give her a hand," he said, aiming his scopes at a platoon coming around Onika's side. Tyler, Domino, and Tag took the order and began firing as well.

The general looked to her left as the familiar pop of blaster fire sent a droid into the mud. Though she needn't the help to defend herself, the Jedi gave a nod of appreciation towards Green. Turning back to the battle, Onika felt the Force swell within her, giving her immense strength and focus.

Heat passed by her as she delved so deep into her memorized training that she barely registered what was going on. It was as if the Force was possessing her, using her body as a puppet to fight this battle. Onika knew it was a dangerous thing to let the power consume her, but it was the end anyways.

Very soon, there was an open area of the camp where multiple platoons had once stood. Ka'on looked around at the metal piles in satisfaction, glancing over her shoulder to see how the clones were faring. Green was sliding down the hill, blaster tucked into his chest. As he came to the bottom of the hillside, he rolled headfirst, coming back up onto his feet. He rushed towards the Jedi, his men not too far behind him.

Ka'on looked up at him, fighting back the Force to take control of her own actions once more. She looked down at her deactivated lightsabers, and then at the smoldering droids. Green thought she looked almost...scared. Of what he did not know. The man shook away the admiration he felt, having watched her effortlessly take out an entire company of clankers, if not more.

"We should go help Wess and the others," the commander suggested, concern laced in his tone as he watched the Jedi shake ever so slightly. She bit her bottom lip at his words before dipping in agreement. The familiar shuffle of metal caught the attention of the group. "Look out!" Green shouted, gesturing towards the advancing droid company.

Onika's fire returned when she spotted the incoming fire. Immediately, she ignited her blades and shielded the clones from a wave of red bolts. The troopers scattered, taking shelter where they could. Green threw himself behind an empty ammunition crate, growling as blaster fire chipped away the side of it. He leaned over to take a few shots, only to be forced behind the box as a laser flew past his helmet.

Onika planted her feet firmly in the soggy earth, her lightsabers dancing in front of her ferociously. There was an elegant touch to the way the Jedi moved, her motions fluid as much as aggressive. Her determined face never faltered as she continued to redirect the enemy fire.

No matter how hard Onika and her men fought, the droids kept pouring in one after the other. For every droid they cut down, two more appeared. The entire camp was full of droids marching towards the Republic troops. It was hopeless to think they would succeed. This was the end.

Through Green's comm, Vel's agonizing scream came through just as he was about to report something. Blaster fire was also heard in the background. Onika reached out into the Force and found that the sergeant's signature had disappeared.

He was gone.

The distraction of mourning him caused enemy fire to graze Onika's left arm. She cried out in pain, taking a step back. Green snapped his head towards her, terror rippling through him as he feared the worst. Once he saw the Jedi regain her defensive stance, he relaxed slightly. Whistling to grab her attention, the commander waved her over to his cover.

Ka'on did not hesitate as she slid in the mud next to Green, dodging fire along the way.

"_Commander!"_ Wess called out with urgency on the ARC's wrist comm. Green hunkered down behind the crate so he and Onika could both listen to it safely. "I read you, Lieutenant," he replied. He seemed to look at Ka'on with reluctance. She had an itch that they were about to be royally fucked.

"_The droids, -ah!"_ he stopped to duck under fire, "_Are headed towards the retreat line! The droids are trying to go around us!"_

Onika locked gazes with Green, both of them thinking the same thing. _Fek_. Ka'on peered from the side of the crate to where Wess and his men were. As per the lieutenant's report, the droids were starting to back off from their position and continue past the camp. If they didn't stop them, the droids would follow the footprints still carved into the ground.

Their sacrifice was about to be for naught. Vel's death. Thatch's death. The deaths of the thousands of men before them would all be for nothing if they could not stop those droids.

Ka'on felt herself racking her own brain for a solution. There was no way they could defeat these droids and then the entire battalion going after the 66th. Wess was trying his best to cut them down, but there were far too many of them.

Green crouched down after firing a series of accurate shots, having taken a look to confirm Wess's report. "It's true," the ARC growled, "The Seppies are starting to split off." Onika seemed to not acknowledge what he was saying, so caught up in her calculations. No matter what the Jedi conjured up, the outcome was the same. They were going to die and so would the injured battalion.

It angered her to be so helpless, to have to surrender all hope knowing she can't do anything to change the future. This was her fate and the fate of all the men she led. Was this it? Was this the end of her glorious Jedi career she was destined to have? The anger built up.

No, it couldn't be. Onika huffed and swiped into the air with her right blade, sending three shots into the ground in front of her. What else?! What was she missing in her plots that could turn this conflict around? She stepped out from behind the ammunition crate, blades sizzling through the air. She had to make this worth it.

"Fuck!" and a loud thump.

The Knight froze at the outburst, a hot laser nearly grazing her left cheek. Onika peered down at the commander's form as he hunched over in pain. She gazed at the hole bored into his right shoulder plate. It was still searing and smoked, the clone ducking down and reaching underneath his armor to put pressure on the wound. The antenna on his shoulder plate was warped and sparking.

"Shit," Green muttered as his glove came out bloodied. Tag, who was perched behind the ruins of a tent not too far off, must have heard his brother's cry through his HUD. "Green's shot," he called through his comm. The commander shook his head, activating his communicator. "Don't worry about me, keep fighting," he ordered, grunting in pain.

The private seemed to lift his wrist to argue, but his older brother shot him a look from across the field, holding up a signal. "That's an order, kid," he barked weakly. Onika looked over in concern, eyes wide as a fresh trail of blood leaked onto Green's arm plates. The man grabbed his left pistol and fired with that, tucking his right arm to his stomach protectively. He tried his best to push through the pain, but the Jedi could see that he was beginning to tire.

While Onika could barely shield herself from the hail of red, the men were getting overwhelmed. Tyler ran out of charge on his blaster and crouched down in his position, waiting for death. Domino was struck by shrapnel, though continued to fire upon the droids. Tag was dodging shot after shot, though his luck was running out as they landed closer and closer to his body.

As Green tried to lean over the crate, his left knee peeking out was grazed by blaster fire, sending the 66th commander to the ground again. He cursed as he caught himself, his mind accepting death openly.

Ka'on felt that anger pulse harder than before.

It returned. The swell of energy taking over her. Onika's senses dulled to nothing as the red in her vision blurred together. The Force surrounded her, calling to her. She reached out and begged for its help, wanting to end all of her suffering and pain. It answered immediately, sending a massive surge into her being, nearly knocking the young woman over.

Green clutched his knee with his free hand, pain searing through him and making him clench his teeth. He had endured pain like this on Kamino, the feeling all too familiar to the special unit clone. However, the simulations couldn't compare to all of the emotions he was feeling at the moment.

The commander's brows furrowed as the enemy fire came to a rapid halt. There was also a faint lack of humming lightsabers. Onika, he thought, fear washing over him. Was she?

Green looked up, his mouth agape at the ethereal image. Before him was the glowing blue form of the Jedi Knight. Her eyes were a surging white, Force energy dripping from her hands. A look of pure determination was painted across her once innocent face. He could only gawk at the power this woman wielded between her two hands. Onika raised her arms, the swirls of blue essence spinning faster and faster around her body the higher they went.

Baring her teeth, the Jedi bent her elbows and concentrated the energy to form a ball in front of her chest. Holding it there as it grew to the point of explosion, Ka'on suddenly thrust her hands forward, willing the massive blue-white orb towards the battlefield. A loud boom traveled far, followed by a monstrous whoosh.

Every clone froze in time as the energy expanded outwards, encompassing the entire camp. In the blink of an eye, the droids were crushed on impact as well as the few tents left behind. Metal parts hurtled backwards, ramming the next line and the line after. Within seconds, the battalion inside the camp had been crumpled and decimated. The energy continued expanding, plowing through the droids attempting to track down the retreating clone battalion.

Wess and his men ducked down the hillside in the bushes, the Force energy passing over them and dissipating into the air. "What the hell was that?" Elliot shouted as everything came to calm down.

The commander pivoted his head back to Onika, finding her collapsed onto the ground. He shuffled out of his position behind the crate to her side, limping along the way. "General!" he called out in concern. She shifted in his arms weakly, breathing hard. Green looked up, finding Wess, Elliot, and Owen running towards them in the distance.

Taking a glance at the barren camp, ash and smoke rising up from the destruction, Green waved over Domino and Owen. Together, the younger clones lifted up the Jedi and started walking away. "We have to get out of here," Green shouted back to the others, hand pressed on his shoulder and knee bleeding. Tag and Elliot moved to the back of the group, keeping an eye on their flank as they abandoned the fiery scene.


	14. 14: Making Progress

_a/n: Whoa, it's been awhile. Things went pretty crazy since the last time I posted. I hope you all are safe and healthy in these troubling times. The next few chapters might be shorter, but will serve the story well. In this chapter, we're picking up after Onika revealed how strong she was in the Force. Now we'll get to see how Green and the rest of the 66th Army Battalion reacts to this. Enjoy! _

_Special thanks to Wolfsoldier13 and guest reviewers! Your support means a lot to me :) _

_~ Echo_

**Chapter Fourteen: Making Progress**

_**The Battle of Lothal, Part 6**_

The Jedi Knight jolted awake, held back by something. She fell back onto the bed with a grunt. Looking around in panic and confusion, she found herself bound by security belts. As the room shuddered and roared, the woman realized she was in the medbay of a gunship; it was small but served a great purpose during battles. Breathing a sigh of relief, Onika calmly unclipped the straps.

A stinging pain spread across her arm when she moved. Glancing down, the Knight found a bacta bandage where her left shoulder and arm plates used to be. In fact, all of her upper body armor was gone, her bodysuit as well. She was left in a modest black sport bra, her skin covered in bruises and minor burns that stung.

Onika squeezed her eyes shut, using the Force to calm her through the pain. Her muscles ached, her back spasmed, and the burns rubbed uncomfortably. A session of deep meditation would serve her well when she gained her strength back. The push had sapped her energy completely, making Onika feel void and dizzy. Despite this, the Jedi got up off the bed, needing to know what was going on.

She limped to the door of the medbay, ignoring the tenderness throbbing everywhere. After pressing the button on the control panel, Onika was faced with multiple clones gripping onto the handles. Tag, Domino, and Red all turned to look at her excitedly. "Rise and shine," Domino said with a smirk. His helmet was held at his side, revealing his exhausted face.

Onika smiled gently before glancing out the blast doors. They were flying over the swamplands, murky water and flooded basins racing by. Ka'on gauged that they were headed towards the new camp. She still had questions for many things, as she came to stand by the men and inspect her bandages. Her curious eyes fell upon Red, who regarded her with a nod.

"Once we dropped off the supplies and set up camp, we had the gunships go back to pick you up," he said, as if reading her mind. Onika grinned in thanks, receiving a shrug. The Jedi glanced around at the three men, looking beyond them. "Where's Green?" she inquired.

Domino lifted a brow at her, cautious as to why she asked about the commander. True, they had gotten along in the last few days, but it was surprising nonetheless. "He and the others are on another gunship," the Alpha Squad sergeant answered, "Wyatt is treating his injuries."

Onika suddenly recalled Green getting shot and bleeding significantly. "So he'll be okay?" she pushed, looking to Red. The senior medic nodded sharply. "Green is tough," Domino added, "It takes a lot to kill him."

The comment disturbed the Knight, her recollection of Green's blacklisted past a haunting discovery. Specific terms came to mind: torture conditioning, pain tolerance, psychological manipulation, serum testing….

Onika shook her head free of those memories, her head pounding.

Tag moved to stand by her side, putting a hand on her uninjured shoulder. "You okay, _vod_?" he asked. She glanced up at him with a genuine smile at the Mando'a word. It was spoken so casually, so effortlessly, as if he had been saying it to her for years.

Grabbing onto a handle, the Jedi stabilized herself as the gunship hit a rocky patch of air. Turning to Tag, she nodded. "Yeah, I'm good," she winced slightly as her burns were aggravated with lifting her arm.

The private seemed convinced and stood back slightly, though still remained at his general's side. "That was pretty _kriffing_ impressive," he said enthusiastically.

Ka'on blushed, embarrassed. Internally, she knew she had honed the Dark Side with that push. It was a dangerous move, one that could get her expelled from the Jedi Order or worse. "T-thank you," she stuttered, looking off into the distance, "It just….happened."

Tag realized that she was uncomfortable and dropped the subject. Domino noticed this as well and cleared his throat. "We should be at base within the next ten minutes," he said, "They walked until sundown before picking a spot."

Onika jerked. "It's the next day?" she exclaimed, eyes wide in disbelief. She wondered how long she was unconscious for. The last thing she remembered was Green's voice mumbling to her. He and another clone had picked her up just before she passed out.

Red hummed in confirmation. "Lucas wanted to make sure the droids couldn't find them, so they kept marching until the rain covered their tracks."

"Ah," the Knight acknowledged, relaxing. Knowing the men were safe brought her a great deal of relief. She had been so worried that she could not protect them from the droid army. It also calmed her to know that Green was okay. Onika would be lying to herself if she said that she didn't care about him.

The remainder of the trip to camp was quiet, an awkward aura surrounding them as the general contemplated her actions. Tag and Domino looked to her with concern, missing their bright, bubbly general.

Once the gunship landed just outside the tents and crates, Onika stepped off, Red by her side guiding her. She limped slightly, but covered it up as much as she could. Domino and Tag also tailed right behind her protectively. A large group of soldiers gathered to greet them, surrounding the landing zone.

Ka'on was ambushed by a chorus of cheers as they entered the camp. Clones stopped their tasks and looked to her, clapping and hollering. Onika's eyes went wide, dumbstruck. Despite the growing respect for her leadership, the Knight had never experienced this before.

"Good job, ma'am!" one shouted.

"You sent those droids to hell!"

"Great to see you back!"

Ka'on's shock turned to joy as she smiled, blushing slightly. The pain from her wounds subsided for a moment, allowing her to dwell in the symphony of admiration. If there was ever a moment that she most appreciated her men, it would be this. She felt accepted and loved, something lacking in her childhood in the Jedi Temple.

"They know what you did for them," Domino whispered to her, gently prodding her shoulder with his elbow. Onika smirked, looking at him from the corner of her vision. "I couldn't have done it without the eight of you," she said. The sergeant dipped his head in gratitude and gestured for her to keep walking towards the medical station. All along the way, the general received applause and calls of recognition.

* * *

Green perked up when he heard the cheering. Wyatt stopped addressing his injuries to look towards the front of the medical tent. "The general must be back," the medic said, glancing back at the commander. The clone officer shrugged and looked to his right, hinting he didn't want to talk about any of it. Luckily, Wyatt was not privy to Green's feelings for the general like Lucas was.

Wyatt continued his work just as Red lifted the tent flaps so Onika could enter. All of the conscious men in the medical station smiled and weakly praised her. The woman grinned at them, her face flushed pink. As the Jedi absorbed the chanting, she noticed the commander in the far back of the tent. He didn't look at her, staying perfectly still as Wyatt applied a thick layer of bacta gel to his stitched up shoulder.

The cheering subsided as Red guided Onika towards Green's position. The commander tensed as she drew closer, the senior medical officer having her sit down on a bed next to him. Neither chose to acknowledge the other, both feeling a rush of emotions.

"I'm going to have Wyatt put some extra bacta on those burns," Red declared before walking away. Onika nodded and allowed herself to relax. She felt weak and shaken, the immense effort from the Force push having taken its toll on her. Not only was it dangerous to waver so close to the Dark Side, but physically the push drained her and sapped her life essence.

"All done," Wyatt said, packing away unused bandages and bacta patches. Green glanced down where his armor was missing and his bodysuit had been cut away, wraps covering his blaster wound. "Thanks, kid," he uttered before moving to stand up. The rookie medic was about to shove him back down onto the bed, but Green waved him off.

"I have a lot of things to do," the commander groaned. Wyatt sighed in defeat and grabbed the box of medical supplies, shuffling to stand next to Onika. She winced as he moved her arm to take her vitals. Wyatt knew better than to argue with the ARC trooper, so he let him go.

Green stopped in front of the Jedi, looking down at her. She glanced up sheepishly into his visor, wondering what he was about to say.

"Thank you."

Onika was taken aback, her brows lifted. "Um," she stuttered, incoherently. They had been making progress in their treatment of one another, but the woman did not expect this. Green spared her unsuccessful attempt at responding by saying, "You saved my brothers and ignored an order that would have gotten them killed. And for that, you have earned my respect."

Ka'on gulped, internally fighting her excitement at hearing those words. She put on a sincere face, one full of gratitude and grace, before bowing her head. "Thank you for staying behind," she said, a smile entwined on her lips.

Green gave a brief, crisp nod before turning around. The air was far too thick for his liking, emotions flowing through him that he could not control. Onika knew Green was leaving because he was trained to store away his thoughts and emotions. Through the Force, however, she could feel his own happiness in their newfound mutual respect for one another. They had reached a common ground, a dangerous place considering the growing feelings he had for the Jedi Knight.

The commander pivoted back around, looking towards Wyatt. The younger clone seemed just as surprised by the conversation as they were.

"Make sure she stays here and gets rest," he ordered. The medic sharpened up and dipped his head obediently.

Onika watched the commander's green and white form walk out of the tent. She felt at peace, finally, in the battalion. Though she reckoned Green hadn't turned a new leaf completely, it was the start of a bond they desperately needed in such difficult and unpredictable times.

* * *

After Wyatt and Red finished attending to General Ka'on, they had left her to get some much deserved rest. At first, she tossed and turned, not able to find a comfortable position with the itchy, poky bandages around her body. Once she did, the Jedi slept for a good portion of the day, only waking up a couple times when the medics needed to replace her patches.

Hunger drove the Knight out of her slumber. Her stomach growled viciously, reminding Onika that she hadn't eaten in nearly two days. A Jedi could survive weeks without food with the aid of the Force, but considering how weak Ka'on was, she needed to eat.

It was getting dark outside. The only light besides the setting sun was the various campfires the men had lit around camp. Clones gathered around, sharing rations and canteens as they settled in for the night.

Ka'on admired the handiwork of her battalion. They had set up an organized base within a clearing, surrounded by a dense treeline. This time, the men had more shelter from the rainfall, using the walkers to prop up canvases and hanging out in the bays of gunships. Everyone seemed much more content without close proximity to the droid army or mud clogging their boots.

Onika grunted when her stomach rumbled again, feeling as though it was eating itself. She searched through the camp, smiling and nodding at troopers as they saluted their leader. Eventually, the woman came upon a large campfire with at least twenty clones sitting around it. Amongst the large group was the commander, conversing with Lucas and Shark.

Lucas was the first to notice her, gesturing his exposed face towards the general. Shark and Green both looked over their shoulders, visors staring her down. Onika grinned at them before sitting down next to Lucas. The captain handed her his canteen, which she took graciously.

"Welcome back, General," Shark said, a smirk evident in his voice. Ka'on smiled back before taking a sip of water. It was then that she realized how dry her mouth was. Dehydration was quite the plague in war.

"Feeling better?" Lucas asked. Ka'on could tell by the look on his face that he was ecstatic to see her, a brotherly love in his eyes. She was glad to be back with him and the rest of his men, having grown the closest to the boys of the Phantom Company. Most of them had visited her in the medical tent throughout the day when she was awake.

Onika scoffed, looking at all of her bandages. "I could do without the bacta," she said, "But, yes."

Shark laughed, gesturing to one of the wraps around her stomach. "That stuff is pretty annoying," he agreed, "All the stinging and itching."

"You get used to it," Green added, looking around camp. Onika appreciated that he didn't walk away when she approached, as he so often did whenever she would try to join him and his brothers in the mess hall.

"Yeah, when you're always getting shot," Lucas jabbed, smirking at Green. The older clone glared him down, but said nothing.

"Can't you do that Jedi magic healing thing?" Shark remarked, wiggling his fingers. Onika chuckled and shook her head, taking another sip. Lucas shot his fellow captain a warning look, knowing his brother was mocking her.

"It'll take too much energy for that," Ka'on replied, nudging Lucas to say that it was alright. "That push took a lot out of me." The Knight dulled at this. She was very disappointed in herself and wanted to forget that it happened.

"I wish I could have seen it," said Shark, who looked at Green. The commander regarded Onika curiously, trying to see why it pained her to think of the event. It was something so unworldly and…._beautiful_. One might say it was odd to call a battle move that, but as a clone bred for combat, it was the most accurate way Green could describe it.

"Can all Jedi do that?" Lucas inquired, genuinely interested. He shifted so that he was facing the Jedi, eager to learn more about her kind. Onika appreciated that, but couldn't bring herself to feed his positive view on her show of strength.

"No," she said bluntly, "In fact, the Council forbids it."

The Phantom Company captain tilted his head in confusion, as did Shark. Green made no motion, but underneath his helmet, he frowned.

"The raw power I was born with tends to drift towards the Dark Side," Ka'on admitted, looking at the fire. Her men tensed. They knew of the dark Force users and their corruption. It was a shock to hear that their general wielded such power.

"My master trained me for years to tame it," Onika continued. Orange flames flickered in the reflection of her eyes, accurately portraying the dance between light and dark within her. It was a constant battle she fought day to day. Underneath the facade of a dedicated, emotionless Jedi was a broken soul teetering on the edge of a dark abyss.

"I guess it wasn't enough," the woman spoke softly, contempt in her tone.

Lucas cleared his throat awkwardly, caution in his gaze. "But you're not like the Sith," he stated, yet it came out more as a question. Shark looked between her and the fire, as the Knight was still staring into it. It unnerved the captains slightly to see her entranced by the raging flames.

"No."

The group snapped their heads to Green, who had spoken so determinedly. The man sat with his arm rested on a propped knee, his visor boring into Onika's face. Having seen her sacrifice herself for others so easily, Green was certain she was not like the vile Sith he studied back on Kamino.

"If my training is correct," he started, watching how Onika stared at him with a surprised face, "The Sith are selfish, using power for their own gain. They think of only themselves."

Ka'on straightened out, and nodded. "Correct," she said. Green took this and looked off into the distance. Lucas looked between them, dumbfounded how his brother defended Onika so quickly. Defended a _Jedi_. Perhaps Green was finally coming to terms with his feelings.

The commander popped his knuckles, the crackling of the campfire masking it. Just as Onika felt herself drifting to a dark place, the man sensed he was growing closer to her. He was drawn to her, especially now after seeing the warrior she truly was.

He suspected there was something else she kept from them. The general was a very mysterious woman, and learning of her struggle with the Dark Side was only scratching the surface. Green had been trained during his years on Kamino to read people, read their body language and learn their fears. Onika feared herself, and it was not just her power.

And for whatever forsaken reason, Green _wanted_ to know who she really was.


	15. 15: The Hunt

Chapter Fifteen: The Hunt

The Battle of Lothal, Part 7

In the days since making camp in the clearing, the 66th encountered an entirely new issue to deal with: food. The battalion had very little supplies to begin with, but the crash and abandoning their campsite cut their rations tenfold. With the droid army aware of their former base, Green and Onika did not dare to send the gunships back to salvage crates. Their best hope was to wait for reinforcements that may not be coming.

Onika spent her days helping the medics tend to the men. She changed their bandages, boiled water for them to drink, and portioned food to make their supply last longer. Green kept himself busy with organizing patrols and guard shifts. He answered any calls from the Jedi Council, always making an excuse for Ka'on's absence.

Green would have never seen himself defending a Jedi Knight, nor covering for one against protocol. However, the commander was starting to view Onika separately from the Jedi, as she has proven herself far fetched from his negative view of them. It was as though she was something else, something more realistic than the hypocrisy of the Jedi Code.

The man caught himself scanning the campsite looking for her as he watched the next guard shift swap. A shadow cast upon his T-shape face from the battalion-green visor shield. He stood stoically, clutching his blaster meticulously to his chest, always ready for a firefight.

Green finally spotted her bringing an empty pot to one of the campfires. During their travel to the swamplands, the battalion had come across an abandoned cottage and taken a few cooking pots and pans for boiling water. Unfortunately, they couldn't find any food beyond spices and herbs. Whoever lived there only left their furniture and a few kitchenwares behind.

"I'll be back," the commander informed Skye, who nodded and continued standing guard.

Ka'on handed the pot off to a trooper, politely asking him to retrieve more water. She brushed off her hands as the man walked off, settling them upon her hips in contemplation. Her senses perked at the commander's nearing presence, a smile almost forming on her face. Onika had not spoken to him for some time, due to their demanding duties; however, she would not allow her emotions to get the better of her.

Having survived near death, Ka'on realized she needed to contain herself. The raw power had been released, her old self coming to the surface. It all needed to be shoved away, just as the Council intended.

"Commander," Onika greeted with a dip of her head. Green returned the gesture, slinging his blaster over his shoulder and looping a thumb under the canvas belt attached to it. "Any news from the Council?" she asked, crossing her arms and tilting her head curiously.

"Nothing new," was the clone's monotone reply, "Just the same spiel that we'll eventually get reinforcements. General Secura's front hasn't made any progress." He intentionally avoided telling her the part where Windu chewed him out for Onika not answering their calls. The commander took the admonishment for his general's sake, though would gladly take the opportunity to pummel the former Master of the Order if presented.

Onika shrugged and sighed, "I guess no news is good, then." Green nodded casually in acknowledgement before proceeding to inspect her duties. "I see water distribution is going well," he said, trying to make small talk. It was different for him, but felt nice.

The Jedi half smiled. "One issue solved," she spoke. Taking a look at the campfire, Ka'on hummed. "We still need to figure out the food situation."

"Maybe I can take a patrol to search for any wildlife," Green offered. Onika brimmed at this, her brows raising slightly. "That would be good," she said, "We can bring along Tag and Elliot."

"'We'?" Green straightened out. Onika smirked, taking her eyes off the fire and planting them on the commander. She found herself shuddering internally at how close he was to her. The man towered over her, even with the heels implanted in her boots. His presence was much calmer these days, yet it still wrapped around the Jedi in a choking embrace.

"I could be of help," the Knight said, "Jedi senses and all." The last part drew out hesitantly, as if she couldn't find another way to say it. Onika was trying not to reveal her heritage to Green just yet.

Green imagined Onika hunched over with a rifle, hunting the wild nerf herds roaming the planet. The vision gave him a rush of heat that made him thankful for his concealing armor. "Uh," he started, disoriented, "Sure." The man wanted to smack himself for sounding so unravelled.

Ka'on had noticed his unusual speechlessness but said nothing. She instead opted to smile and clasp her hands together. "Great," she said, "I'll finish up here and meet you guys on the east treeline?"

Green nodded sharply to make up for his stuttering. The Jedi took her departure, leaving the commander to wallow in embarrassment. He tried his best to wipe away the thought of her with a blaster and get to gathering a hunting party. However, his unprofessional thinking followed him all the way to the treeline as he stood with the men waiting for the general.

"This'll be interesting," Elliot proposed, "Maybe she'll kill 'em with the Force so we don't have to shoot 'em."

Lucas grumbled, giving his brother a death glare under his helmet. "Do not talk about that around her," he commanded. Elliot held up his hands in surrender, taken aback. "Whoa, sorry, sir," he blurted. The Phantom Company captain shook his head and looked back at camp. "She's going to get in a lot of trouble for that," he added, "No need to rub it in her face."

"Yes, sir," the sharpshooter said dejectedly. He had meant no disrespect to the Knight. In fact, Elliot, along with most of the men in the battalion, viewed her as family after everything she has done for them. To them, her actions were to be hailed, not shunned.

Green cracked his knuckles, not looking forward to the next time Onika spoke with the Council. He wondered if she would even admit to them of her losing control; of what would happen if she did. The man had heard talk on Kamino of what the Order did to the Jedi who "went dark". None of their methods were easy to swallow, especially when the commander imagined them doing it to her.

"Where is she?" Tag asked without impatience. Lucas shrugged, gesturing his elbow at Green for an answer. The commander checked the charge on his blaster and pistols, grunting at how low they were. "Helping Red replace bandages and hand out water," he responded half-mindedly, his attention dwelling on the Council's wrath.

"Glad we got her instead of an emotionless robot," Corporal Lock said. Green had chosen him to go as well, as the younger clone was the sharpshooter of 4th Platoon's Blue Squad under Lucas's command. The man had a single wide green stripe painted down his armor, along with a set of macrobinoculars. He carried a DC-15A rifle, eager to find some food for his brothers.

"Yeah," Lucas agreed, chuckling, "Like Kenobi."

"That man preaches compassion yet puts his men in dangerous situations," Elliot added, disgust in his tone.

Green huffed at this, holding back a comment on how most Jedi do this. Part of him wanted to say that even Onika did this at one point, but that would be false. She just followed orders and never made a decision herself up until a few days ago. The woman was beginning to embrace a little independence and free-thinking, which he admired.

"I've spoken with Cody before about his general's hypocrisy," Lucas commented, "His men don't really care for Kenobi's leadership. They'd rather work with Skywalker."

"Eh," Tag hummed, "I don't know about that one, vod. He's pretty reckless."

"So is Captain Rex," Green said, fiddling with the antenna on his shoulder. The bandage there from his blaster wound itched uncomfortably, but the commander ignored it and rolled his muscles. "That kid has a loose bolt just like his superior." His words earned a few chuckles amongst the younger clones.

"Hey, you and Onika are not too far off, either," Lucas laughed, nudging his brother. Green groaned and shoved his brother by pushing on his helmet. The captain only laughed harder, knowing he had struck a nerve.

Lucas was careful with his wording when it came to teasing Green in front of their brothers. The less that knew of their leader's affection for the Jedi, the better. To his knowledge, the captain was the only one aware of Green's feelings.

"I think she gets her aggression from you," Lock said, entertained by the way Green glowered at him. The larger clone flexed and cracked his knuckles, feeling the irritation within him spin like a tornado. "All of you shut the fek up," he muttered.

"There she is!" Elliot called out, spotting the Jedi Knight leaving the camp.

Relief flowed through Green. As much as he loved his brothers, Onika doesn't tease him.

It took the Knight a few moments to reach the group, but smiled nonetheless as she greeted them with enthusiasm. "You all look ready to go," she noted their weapons and jittery Force signatures. Whether it was to quash their boredom or have the opportunity to shoot something, Onika did not know. Either way, it was entertaining and reassuring to see them so excited after the tragedies.

"We're starving, that's why," Lucas jibbed, chuckling darkly. Onika scoffed a laugh and gestured towards Green. "What's the game plan," she asked.

"Hutch ran into some wild nerf while patrolling the area," the commander replied, flattered that she asked him for mission details. Normally, he had to explain debriefs to her with the barrage of military lingo and codes.

"They have quite a bit of meat on them," Onika commented, "A few could feed us for a couple days."

"How many men do we have?" Elliot asked.

"Last headcount totalled three thousand five hundred eighty two," Lucas said.

"Four should do," Ka'on stated, "If we portion it to half a pound per man, we would only have to hunt every two days."

"Oh?" Green smarted, "You seem to know a little about survival." During his training, he had learned how to make it out in the middle of nowhere and hunt for his own food.

"My trials," Onika started with a grin, "I had to survive off nothing but my wits and the Force for three months in the wilderness of Aborran." Green raised a brow underneath his helmet. The "trials" she spoke of were described by his Mandalorian mentors as some voodoo ritual they have to do before becoming a Knight. That was probably some exaggeration.

"Woof," Lucas scoffed, "Isn't that planet devoid of civilization?"

"Mhmm," Ka'on nodded, "Mainly because the Force is highly concentrated on the planet. Anyone who visits usually starts to hallucinate and go mad. Like seeing ghosts and spirits." Nevermind, Green thought. That does sound a little bit like some ritual.

"So why did they send you there?" Lock inquired.

"The trials to become a Jedi Knight are meant to be difficult and dangerous," the woman answered, earning everyone's undivided attention. "They test your spirit, both mentally and physically. You must endure isolation, fear, anger, and relying on your instincts."

"Like our simulations on Kamino," Elliot noted. Lucas and Green both flinched unnoticeably at this, the former due to his knowledge of Green's final test before Geonosis.

"I suppose," Onika said, nodding. She felt the ripple of fear and trauma in the Force from Green, but chose not to shine light on it. It would be a discussion for another time.

"Did you hallucinate?" Tag asked, genuinely interested, "Or go mad?"

Onika chuckled and shook her head. "Thankfully I didn't go crazy," she said, "But I did see things that were….otherworldly."

"Like your powers," Green quipped, surprising everyone. The man had actually been quite intrigued by learning of her people's culture and rite of passage.

Ka'on shivered at the thought of her loss of control, but dipped her head nonetheless. "Yes, like them."

There was a silent respect billowing amongst the group. Even Green looked on at the Jedi general with gratitude and admiration. The men respected that she did not want to discuss the subject further, bringing their conversation to a natural close. Commander Green began guiding the group to the area where the fauna was spotted, a comfortable silence between everyone.

Onika took point when they were a klik away from the herd's position. Her Jedi senses kicked in, allowing her to feel the nerfs' Force signatures. She could feel the tiniest vibrations in the earth as the herd traveled; she could smell their infamous odor in the air with her heightened abilities.

Green relinquished his authority easily, finding himself lost in Onika's tracking. He observed her gentle yet calculated movements, the men copying her and switching to stealth mode. The way the Jedi moved was so fluid and elegant, as if it were a dance like her lightsaber form.

The group came upon a ridge that overlooked a massive field. Below, the nerf gathered, grazing on the luscious green grass the planet's wet weather brought them. They feasted in peace, completely oblivious to the lurking hunters as the wind blew downwind in the Republic troops' position, concealing their approach.

Ka'on crouched prone to the ground, eyes peeking through the knee-high grass. She analyzed the herd, trying to find the best targets to feed the men. The Jedi knew as soon as the first shot rang, the herd would scatter and the window for opportunity would close fast.

"I see a pretty big one," Lock whispered through the modulator in his helmet. "Same here," Elliot added, adjusting his scopes. Green snapped his head to Onika after seeing her shift closer to the edge of the ridge. She seemed to be fixated on something.

"Got a big fucker, too," Tag said.

"General?" Green inquired, seeing how the Jedi scanned the field.

"Are we far enough away that blaster fire won't compromise our position?" she asked. Green shrugged. They were quite some distance away from their previous campsite, but there was no telling if the droids had probe droids out looking for them.

"I believe so," Lucas answered, curiosity in his tone, "Why?"

"Oh," Onika smirked, "I was just wondering if we should go down there and do it ourselves."

"You mean," Lock started, "Kill them without our weapons?"

The Jedi laughed heartily, amused. "I did for three months on Aborran," she said, "Was rather fun towards the end after I got the hang of it."

Green frowned underneath his helmet. Who was this woman before him? Surely she is not the peace-loving, compassionate Jedi she fronted as if she found sport in hunting her food. The complexities of this Knight had grown tenfold, making the commander note to himself to do further research into her files when he got the chance. He just had to know who she really was.

"You wanna take down four nerfs with your bare hands?" Tag gauffed, chuckling in disbelief. Lucas joined him, looking at Ka'on with a confused face, "You serious?"

"I'd like to see her try," Elliot laughed. Lock knocked him over the side of the head, but also let out a muffled burst of amusement.

"You three take out your targets," Onika said, gesturing towards Elliot, Tag, and Lock, "And then I'll go after mine."

"Are you crazy?" Lucas bellowed, though he made sure to keep it quiet enough not to alert the herd, "They'll be stampeding out of here and you wanna go down there and chase them?"

"Easier than fighting droids," Ka'on grinned.

"Ugh," the captain shook his head and looked back to the wild cattle. "Fekking gar jare'la," he whispered. The phrase nearly meant "you are fucking asking for it".

"Hey," Onika frowned, though her eyes were playful, "Watch it, Captain."

"Sorry, sorry," he waved her off, though it did not seem genuine. He earned himself a rough shove from the Jedi, to which he tried to reciprocate.

Green straightened out. To his knowledge, the men have never said that phrase in front of her before or explained its meaning. So not only did she find entertainment in hunting, but also understood more Mando'a than she let on. Odd.

"I'll go with you."

Everyone turned their heads to the commander. Onika and Lucas stopped their gentle brawling, the captain pinning down the general with his weight as she twisted his arm in a lock. Green's second-in-command rolled off the Jedi as she let him go. There was a faint spark of joy glittering in her eyes at the prospect of Green once again volunteering to be around her.

"We'll give you the signal once we're ready," the Knight declared, motioning for Green to follow her. Lucas watched them victoriously as his older brother shuffled down the ridge after her.

The ARC trooper sat rather uncomfortably by Onika's side, and it was no fault other than his emotions getting the better of him. Watching her lurk through the grass and gaze over the herd with a glossy, determined look brought waves of attraction over the clone. He tried to keep his eyes off of her and focus on the field, but he found no such luck. She was absolutely mesmerizing.

He partially regretted going with her, however, mainly due to his reluctance to let his feelings blossom into anything other than simple biological attraction. This was futile, as the man knew he found her appealing beyond a measure of looks or physical desire; rather, he was bound to her true personality which had grown in confidence and independence these last few months.

Regardless of his inner turmoil, Green wanted to ensure Onika's back was covered. While he didn't agree with her indulging in such a risky activity, Green respected her decision. She needed a caller just as any sniper, and he would protect her to the best of his ability while she put herself in danger to feed the men. His brothers.

"How, may I ask," Green whispered, his modulated voice deep, "Are you going to kill it?"

If he wasn't mistaken, the commander saw Onika smirk. She replied without looking his way. "I was going to ask to borrow your blade."

Green froze. "How did you know-"

"All ARC troopers carry a hidden one in homage to their Mandalorian roots, correct?" Onika said rhetorically. Though, she did flinch slightly at the thought that she might have given away her secret identity. "According to the Jedi texts," she masked casually.

"Correct," Green said slowly, caution dripping from his tongue. He still regarded her stricken with wonder. The Jedi's fresh air of boldness nearly crossed the line into cockiness, but the commander liked it. It showed that fire in her he admired.

"May I borrow it?" she turned to him with raised brows and a genuine smile. Green felt himself redden, and quickly slipped two fingers underneath his left forearm plate. His muscle memory kicked in and the blade was unsheathed, the metal hissing as it did so. The commander flipped it into a reverse grip, glancing down at it for a moment to make sure it was in good condition.

Whilst having a few moments alone to himself the other night, the ARC trooper had made sure to sharpen its edges with a rock just in case. Green found it acceptable and threw it up lightly in the air, catching it by the tip with his left thumb and index finger. He tilted it towards the Knight in offering.

Onika's smile curled, entertained. "Impressive," she said as she took the weapon, analyzing its features. The commander felt his ego ruffle, flared at her appreciation for his handiwork. All of the ARCs created their own blades, designing them however they deemed fit for effectiveness and stealth.

Green's was simple, yet stunning. The blade itself was straight, an inch-wide base slipping down to a shiny point. The hilt was slender, allowing it to be tucked away underneath armor plates; the metal was covered in a thin layer of coated leather strips, allowing the user a stronger grip on the weapon.

Ka'on ran her fingers across the knife, noting how smooth the metal was. Green had clearly spent quite some time into maintaining this, and she would treat it as such.

"Thank you," she breathed out, sending him a grateful look. He seemed bashful and quickly nodded before looking away. The Jedi stored the weapon underneath her own forearm plate, making sure it was snug.

"Make the call."

Green sighed lightly, reluctant. "Are you sure about this?" he questioned, nerves eating at him. Onika scoffed and shrugged her shoulders. "More sure than I am that we'll be rescued any time soon," she jabbed, giving Green a playful look. The commander wasn't moved much by this, yet followed through regardless. He had to give it to Onika, she had some charisma to her.

"Green light," the man spoke through his comm., voice back to its rough nature.

The split second between his transmission and the array of sniper shots allowed the commander only a brief lapse in time to glance at his general. His breath hitched as he watched her lips curl back into an amused snarl. Her eyes flared a bright golden hue, pupils pinpoint concentrated on her target. Her teeth bared, sharp canines glinting in the sunlight, reminded Green of a feline-like predator, honed in on its prey.

As the boys' shots rang through the field, three bulls collapsed to the ground. The herd panicked, scattering in different directions before converging onto a synchronized path. Onika sucked in a breath, taking off in a full sprint towards the stampede.

Green's anxious gaze tracked the Knight as she caught up with the back of the scrambling nerf herd. She ran alongside them, using the Force to increase her speed, making her faster than humanly possible. Anxiety surged through the commander like a powerful monsoon in the sparse moments he lost sight of the general.

Ka'on focused on her breathing as she drew nearer to her prey, her senses aware of the bull's thunderous pace and frightened snorting. She could feel his heartbeat alongside her own, the Force guiding her to her prey.

The male nerf came into view as she slid behind a few smaller ones, his long coat fraying in the breeze. Onika scowled in determination, running harder to reach him. In one deft move, she sprung up from the earth, flying over the bull. As she came around to his other side, the Knight grabbed onto his neck, pulling the nerf down with her.

Onika let go just before the bull could land on top of her, rolling out of the way. The rest of the herd raced by as the two were left to tumble onto the ground, Ka'on more gracefully and planned than her target.

Dust settled around the woman as she rose into a crouched position, watching as the nerf stumbled back onto his feet. The animal bared its horns, ready to charge towards her in defense. Onika had already seen it coming. She was ready. The blade was already in her right hand in a reverse grip.

The bull scuffed his hooves against the dirt, kicking clumps into the air. He snorted before taking off in a raged charge, horns pointed towards the Jedi attacker. Onika narrowed her gaze, gripping the blade harder.

Just as the bull was about to reach her, the Knight pounced to the side, allowing the creature to run past her. It also gave the Jedi direct access to its neck once more. One swift swipe ensured that the nerf was dead.

Onika watched in both triumph and remorse as the beast tripped and crashed to the ground, emitting a pained, dying groan. No movement and bright red blood were sure signs it was over. Onika knelt down beside the bull, placing a hand on one of its horns. The woman made sure to pardon its soul to be one with the Force, and thanked the animal for feeding her family.

After a gunship brought back the hunters and their game, the battalion made quick work of processing the bulls and cooking the meat. Everyone was ecstatic to have something other than expired, tasteless rations for dinner. Onika had never seen men so eager to eat before, and that spoke volumes considering she was of Mandalorian descent, whose warriors were notorious for enjoying their food.

Ka'on sat back and watched as the men ate, revelling in their joy. She made sure every man got their fair share first before she accepted her own meal, despite Lucas's insistence that she earned it. Even Green, of all people, had offered her food before himself.

The man was itching to learn more about his general, having seen a completely new side of her that he would follow faithfully. There were so many new questions he had to investigate. How does she know so much Mando'a? Who taught her to hunt? What is this rebellious nature peeking out?

Questions he would find out shortly.

a/n: Thank you all so much for reading! This chapter we get a look into how the clones view their Jedi leadership. I wanted to give some context into how some clones execute Order 66 so easily, as not every Jedi was loved by them. I was always curious about how the troopers felt about the Jedi and the war, so we'll get a look into that throughout the series. Next chapter we are going to dive into the working relationship between Commander Aloke Tano and her clone Commander Ehn'eta, Green's batchmate. It'll be vastly different from the one between Onika and Green and give another perspective on the clone/Jedi partnership. See you soon!

~ Echo

P.s. Special thanks to my reviewers, Wolfsoldier13, Halifax, guests, and your lovely comments!


	16. 16: Delta Company

_a/n: Whoaaa, I lagged on this one. Hit a huge wall of writer's block and started EMS school and am now engaged, so I haven't had much time to write for this story. With how much I have on my plate at the moment, chapters for this story will be shorter. In the future, once school is done and my wedding is over, I'll most likely have more time for longer chapters. _

_Special thank you to my reviewers of the last chapter, Wolfsoldier13, Halifax, and guests! You guys are amazing! _

_Here is the next chapter of _Jate'kara_. Enjoy! ~ Echo _

**Chapter Sixteen: Delta Company**

_**The Battle of Lothal, Part 8**_

Life around camp was relatively peaceful now. In the days since the hunt, the 66th was able to put its focus on preserving the lives of the wounded troopers rather than worrying about the droids discovering their camp. Yet, the war always did find a way to interrupt said tranquility.

The distant hum of a gunship caught the Jedi's attention. She looked over her shoulder past Green, squinting her eyes in the sunlight. Far off, the small tan body of a LAAT hovered, followed by a series of more gunships. Amongst the flock was the familiar red paint job of a Jedi shuttle.

The Knight shook her head in disbelief and smiled widely, having felt the presence of the Force signature on that vessel.

Green tilted his head curiously, following her gaze to the shuttle. He glanced back to Onika, only to see her sprinting away towards the ship with a laugh. "What's she so excited about?" he asked Lucas, who stood to his left. "I dunno," the captain replied, shrugging. He, too, stopped what he was doing to observe the spontaneous burst of joy.

The shuttle glided down gently in the middle of the clearing, planting its landing gear into the soft grass and mud with a splash. As the engines hummed to sleep, the exit ramp slid out and a hiss escaped the door as it opened. Behind the metal frame was a female Togruta backed by five troopers.

In the last few months, the Jedi Padawan had taken on a more conflict friendly outfit that allowed her a mix of protection and flexibility on the battlefield. She wore a brown long-sleeve crop top, the forearms covered by modified clone trooper armor, and slim light brown cargo pants. Covering her calves were thick-heeled leather boots with an array of buckles on the sides. Attached to her waist was a leather belt similar to the one Onika wore, her double-bladed purple lightsaber clipped on the left side.

Her sienna skin, which the 2nd battalion adopted for their paint scheme, was littered with white tiger-like stripes going across her stomach and chest. The white stripes on her face made up eyebrow markings and a set of "claw marks" on each cheek. Pink lips clashed with her orange skin, and the baby blue markings on her stark white montrals and baby blue eyes stood out from the hodge podge of oranges and browns.

Aloke immediately recognized the Knight running towards her and rushed down the ramp. The two women nearly collided with how fast they were going, but caught each other in a tight embrace.

The clones accompanying Aloke seemed amused by this as they walked past to greet the amassing 66th troopers waiting for them. Green stripes mixed with the sienna clad troopers. The 2nd opted to paint most of their armor plates the orange-red color to showcase white tiger stripes in homage to their leader.

The camp exploded in an outcry of optimism as every available soldier rushed towards the landing sight to welcome their 2nd Assault Battalion brothers. It had been quite some time since the two battalions had the chance to work together. Batchmates were reunited, and others learned quickly of the horrible tragedies and losses the other battalion incurred. A very bittersweet reunion to say the least.

"Are you alright?" Tano asked with a trembling voice. "I felt your pain," she muttered. Onika stiffened at this and let out a shaky breath. "I'm," she paused, uncertain, "Fine."

Knowing what this meant, the Togruta pulled away from Onika, though held onto her shoulders. They were far too close for her to not know there was something deeply wrong with Ka'on. "What happened?" she asked with wide, baby blue eyes. Her montrals, once striped with a light shade of blue, now dulled to bare gray in concern.

Ka'on, taking note of the officers and troopers approaching them, suddenly felt self-conscious. Reading their signatures, she could tell everyone was very confused by the scene. No one was privy to her kinship to Aloke except maybe Ehn'eta. Onika knew the Padawan told her commander _almost_ everything.

"I lost most of my men," the general admitted in a low voice, pulling away from her sister and fighting tears. Seeing how Aloke's face contorted in horror, the shame of her losses washed back. Ka'on felt like she was drowning as the men surrounded both of the women.

"Oni," Tano spoke softly, frowning. It was not admonishing but rather placating. She herself had endured terrible losses during the war, but not to the degree Ka'on had experienced.

Commander Ehn'eta, stepping down the shuttle's ramp, came to stand beside the Togruta. He sported a similar paint scheme to Green, with his arm and leg plates orange and a wide stripe down the middle of his chest. Claw marks adorned his thighs and sienna visor shield. Unlike Green, Ehn'eta wore a black kama in addition to his pauldron.

Nodding respectfully to the general, he looked between the two cautiously. "What's going on?" he inquired, seeing how the other men stared in curiosity.

"Catching up on lost time," the Togruta replied sweetly. Aloke sent the commander a glance that said she didn't want to end her conversation with Onika just yet. Turning back to the Jedi Knight, she sighed. "That explains the darkness I felt surrounding you," Aloke said. Onika hesitated before dipping her head in agreement.

Ka'on tensed as she felt Green walk up beside her. With a sheepish look, she added, "That's not the only reason." Before Onika could finish, Green lightly brushed past her respectfully as Ehn'eta approached him. The ARC brothers gripped each other's forearm in a Mandalorian greeting, Ehn'eta clasping Green's shoulder with his free arm. "Good to see you, _vod_," he exhaled.

"You too," the emerald-marked commander replied. There were so many things he needed to tell Ehn'eta, but looking over at Onika, he could tell the ladies needed their moment to speak as well. Gesturing away from the growing circle, Green led his brother away from the Jedi. Calling the men over as well, the commander spared his general the many eyes on her and Aloke.

Ka'on sent him a thankful look when he glanced at her. Nodding in acknowledgement, the ARC fell into conversation with his closest brother.

"What do you mean?" Aloke asked, pretending as though she hadn't seen the exchange. There was a different air between her sister and the commander compared to Onika's last report of their working relationship. _Much_ different. In fact, the last time Tano laid eyes on the two of them together, it was very hostile and spiteful; now, the Jedi and clone seemed to regard one another with respect.

Ka'on folded her arms and gazed off into the horizon. Her hair danced in the wind, blonde ends catching on the edges of her cracked armor. Golden eyes analyzed the sky turning pink-orange and imagined billowing smoke rising from the ash-covered earth of war. A sight too often ingrained into her memories these past few months.

"I lost control of it again."

The statement was so casual, so emotionless, that it alarmed Tano. She knew of the raw power Onika was trained to contain within herself, and had witnessed her sister plummet into the abyss before.

It was one of the main reasons, if not the reason, the Jedi Council bonded them when they were toddlers. Aloke's role was to keep her partner on the right path and in a sense to channel darkness away from her and expel it. While Onika was very adept at manipulating the physical realm of the Force, Tano was proficient in the spiritual aspects of it and used her skills to affect people's minds, attitudes, and decisions.

Aloke had feared that this would happen. Their separation from fighting battles so far from one another occluded the Togruta from recognizing the signs of Onika struggling and treating them. But to see Ka'on so open and accepting of the growing darkness within her was surely concerning.

"How bad?" Aloke inhaled sharply, looking from Onika to the men obviously having a good time catching up. She caught Green glancing at Ka'on more than what was normal, the Padawan able to see right through his helmet and read his outward thoughts. From this, she made a mental note to warn him of shielding his thoughts better if he didn't want to be exposed.

"A giant Force push that obliterated about a battalion of droids," Onika admitted modestly. She wasn't proud of her act beyond being able to save her men. In that moment, her only goal was to get Green-the men, out of danger. Aware of her sister reading her thoughts, Ka'on was able to correct that statement before the Togruta got any smart ideas about her commander.

However, the general was a little too late for that. Aloke was already starting to form an opinion about the duo, but that could be addressed later.

"Tell me more about it," Tano encouraged, giving Onika her full attention. Though the young woman did not want to relive the memory, she knew Aloke was trying to balm the pain and prevent another outburst.

Many yards away, the men of the 66th and the 2nd excitedly reunited and shared battle stories of the last month. The boys of the 2nd made themselves comfortable in the camp after their long journey from Muunilinst to Lothal and past the blockade. There would be time for organizing supplies later. The medical teams were the exception, running back and forth between the gunships and their makeshift tents to resupply their stocks.

"You're one lucky son of a bitch, Green," Ehn'eta barked a laugh as Green recounted their crash landing. Though a morbid story, the ARCs always covered their pain with sarcasm and humor to cope with it.

"That I am," Green scoffed and then gestured back towards the Jedi. "You like working with Commander Tano?" he asked, "You guys have done pretty well the last couple months."

Ehn'eta nodded with a smile in his emerald green eyes. He had removed his helmet and clipped it onto his belt to enjoy the crisp air. Though his brother didn't copy him, he continued to converse nonetheless, rubbing the sore muscles in his neck and grimacing slightly.

His bodysuit failed to conceal the jagged scar running from his chin down the right side of his neck, or the faintest hint of the tattooed tally marks on the left side of his neck. It wasn't completely visible, but they added up to thirty, hence his name.

"She's great," Ehn'eta responded, "Learns fast and gets the job done quick." It didn't take a Jedi to feel the jealousy pulsing off Green's form.

"I take it you and Onika still aren't getting along?" the 2nd commander asked, smirking as his brother took a peek at the mentioned Knight. Tano wasn't the only one who noticed how much Green looked at Onika.

"We're," Green paused when he saw Onika and Aloke smiling and embracing once more. He wished he had the working relationship Ehn'eta and the Togruta had, while also envying the attention Onika gave Tano. "Working on it," he finished and turned back to his brother. Ehn'eta still had that dastardly grin that struck Green's nerves. Great, now his _vod_ was getting ideas.

"I guess they know each other?" the helmeted clone stated rhetorically in an attempt to escape whatever mockery was coming his way. This brought Ehn'eta to a puzzled look. "Aloke has mentioned her before when we were on Muunilinst," he said, "Something about them training together."

"Ah," Green huffed, "Onika has never mentioned your Jedi before." He noticed the women working together on their previous mission to the Muun planet, but had no insight on how closer they were.

"Something's bothering you," Ehn'eta stated after a moment of silence, pulling on his helmet. When you grow up side by side with a man nearly identical to you, it's not hard to know when something is up, similarly to how Aloke and Onika read each other so well.

Green didn't hesitate to speak the truth, as he was the closest with his batchmate. Though Ehn'eta was a trickster and liked to push his brother's buttons, the 66th commander has a very strong bond with him.

"I know you're never gonna let me live this down, but," Green groaned and stopped. Glancing back over his shoulder, he felt his heart begin to race faster as the Jedi walked towards them. Stepping closer to Ehn'eta, Green leaned over to say, "My dumbass is letting her fekking get to me."

"The general?" the fellow clone asked with a raised brow under his visor. "What about her?" He had a sneaking suspicion, but wanted Green to confirm it. When the green-striped trooper saw how close the two Jedi were, he whispered in Mando'a, believing it to be a safe language. "_Ni guuror kaysh."_ _I like her._

Emerald eyes widened in disbelief as the 2nd commander reeled back slightly. It was too late for further discussion, but Ehn'eta put it on his to-do list.

"You boys all chatted up?" Tano asked, looking at her commander expectantly. Though they were both technically of the same rank, Aloke had taken somewhat of a more dominant leadership role in her battalion, the men respecting her greatly. So, when Ehn'eta answered with a nod, the Togruta smiled close-lipped and held out a hologram display of the capital.

"Good, cause we have a lot of preparation to do," she said. Green gave her an odd look after analyzing the picture. He hoped she wasn't going to say what she was about to, but was thoroughly disappointed.

"Rendezvous with Kenobi's forces is at 1350 tomorrow two kliks from the main gate," Aloke informed, passing the device over to Ka'on for inspection.

"Thankfully we'll have better numbers this time," Onika breathed out, feeling a bit of relief. However, she sensed an angry aura and looked up through her lashes to see, or rather feel, Green glaring at her. Before the woman could challenge him, Tano spoke up. She wasn't oblivious to the emotions swirling between Onika and Green like Ehn'eta was, and wanted to distract the two as long as she could.

"I brought Delta Company," Aloke said, "The other three companies will be here by nightfall. We've also broken through the blockade so Commander Falcon can give air support." Green wasn't swayed.

"Good," Ka'on stated, trying to be positive, "Three battalions and a few squadrons should be enough." An annoyed grunt came from her commander, making the Knight roll her eyes in irritation. Tano was about to prompt Green for an explanation, but he needed no such invitation.

"Who's going to babysit the sick and unarmed men?" was the ARC's curt question. Ka'on, not wanting to go down the bickering road with him again, crossed her arms and mentally asked Aloke to answer him. The Togruta eyed her sister carefully before turning to Green, a blank look on her striped face.

"In addition to Falcon's support," Tano started, earning Green's attention. She now understood the constant tension between Onika and the man once she felt the searing heat from his gaze. Immediately, she was able to read that there was something dark surrounding him. Pressing it to gauge how to continue, the Togruta felt Green jump back in the Force to protect his inner demons.

The man stood back, feeling a shudder pass through him. It was such a familiar feeling to when Onika would look into him with the Force. He hated how personal it was.

"There is a convoy of medical gunships on their way to transport the wounded off planet now that the blockade is divided," Aloke finally said.

Ehn'eta wasn't too sure what had just transpired, but could tell from his brother's body language that he was untrusting of Tano after she approached him. To try and soothe the situation, the fellow ARC stepped forward and clapped Green on his pauldron. "Good news, brother," he said, Green not looking at him, "We can get our _vode an_ out and finish this battle."

The 66th commander was apprehensive, shaking his helmeted head and looking off towards camp. All he wanted was for everyone, not just the sick, to retreat to avoid the inevitable death awaiting them. Even if they were very tactical, three battalions would suffer countless losses against a droid factory army.

Ka'on, hearing his outward thoughts, huffed and looked at Aloke. "I'm gonna go check on the wounded," she said, not waiting for a response. Tano was slightly unnerved by this, only because she knew Green was the cause for Onika's departure. She held back a glare and then looked to Ehn'eta. He simply shrugged and tried to shake Green back to reality.

"I'll join you in organizing the men in a moment, Ehn'eta," Aloke said. The commander gave her a confused look before understanding her implication. He nodded and removed his hand from Green's shoulder, taking off to complete the task.

Green was not too keen on being left alone with a Jedi, especially one that he didn't know. Therefore, he continued to stare off into space and ignore her.

"I would be careful if I were you, Commander," the Togruta spoke. Her voice was not threatening or aggressive. Green could hear a sympathetic tone coming from her. "Oh?" was all he said as he craned his head to look down at the Padawan. Her eyes were an icy blue, piercing and intuitive. Wise.

"My sister may seem innocent and soft, but she's not." The ARC raised a brow at her use of the familial word under the concealment of his helmet. But she saw it nonetheless. "She can get quite combative if pushed too far," Aloke said. Her eyes came to scan the man over, as if reading him. He suddenly felt uncomfortable and shifted his feet. It perturbed him the way she then gazed up and seemed to concentrate on something. The air around them grew thick as the Togruta's eyes widened slightly and she also stepped back.

"You take care of her," she ordered, walking away with a suspicious look on her face. Green felt stuck in the mud. Ever so confused by the magic these Jedi used, he shook his head and tried to analyze what just happened. '_Take care of her'_ played over and over in his head. Green worried that she might have seen in his mind how he viewed her fellow Jedi. _Oh, fek_.

""""""""""""

"You look tired."

Onika lightly rolled her eyes as the injured sergeant ate his food. With an unfortunate lack of dining ware, the men used their hands and made an absolute mess. Ka'o found herself slightly amused by the sight of Grayson dropping shreds of meat all over his lap. He picked up the leftovers occasionally, savoring every bite.

"Exhausted would be a better term," the Knight jabbed, rubbing the calluses forming on her palms.

"Maybe if you didn't stay up all night overthinking," Grayson spoke through bites, "You would sleep better." It was not a mocking statement, but one born of genuine concern. He knew she did not allow herself enough time to rest, as the Jedi was always doing something around camp or sitting by his bedside.

"Green seems to do just fine."

The sergeant nearly choked while laughing. He set down his meal and wiped at his mouth with a forearm. Ka'on chuckled and handed over a rag for him to clean up. He took it gratefully and groomed himself.

Onika noted how he winced from agitating his healing wound. Blue eyes gray in pain. Force healing had done its wonders, but the man still had a long way to go. Red estimated that the GAR would pull him for at least a month if not more. Even then, regulation requires physical therapy to be completed before being cleared for active duty. Thus, Onika would enjoy what time she could with the sergeant she came to see as an older brother figure.

"Green was bred to endure sleep deprivation," Grayson said as he finished, "He also has a massive stick up his ass." Ka'on burst into a small fit of laughter. "So please," her subordinate continued, "Do us all a favor and get some rest."

With a playful huff, the Knight held up her hands to concede. "Very well," she laughed, "I'll try." Grayson ushered her away from his bed with fake annoyance and continued to eat his meal. No further discussion was needed between the two, as Onika internally appreciated his care for her wellbeing.

The sun was already down and the stars began to peek out into the night sky as Onika made her way over to the command tent. Gunships were landing, dropping off the remainder of the 2nd Assault Battalion as Aloke said they would. The medic transports were already starting to take away the critically injured back to the _Akul_.

Normally, Onika would find a secluded spot in camp to sleep, but the Knight decided it wouldn't be too awkward to sleep amongst the officers, especially now that Tano was there. When she pushed back the canvas flaps, the human Jedi found quite a few officers arranging their sleeping positions.

Ka'on acknowledged the men with a nod as she zigzagged her way over to the Togruta in the back corner. She avoided locking gazes with Commander Green, who bore a hole into her per usual. Aloke was scrolling through battle plans on her datapad when Onika sat down next to her. "Here," she said, handing over the device and a spare blanket.

"Thank you," came the human Jedi's response. She graciously wrapped the fabric around herself and began memorizing the attack plan. Though the light from the screen wouldn't help her fall asleep, Onika wanted to be as prepared as possible.

There was no masking the Alpha-class trooper's presence in the Force, considering the man was laying down on a line of crates barely a few feet away from the Jedi General. Ka'on felt her senses prick in alert every time he glanced her way, but she fought to ignore it. He was most likely plotting his next argument with her, and Onika had no intentions of entertaining it.

Sleep eventually conquered the mentally exhausted Knight. She slipped into a deep sleep, the data pad down by her side. In her slumber, the woman was unable to see Green staring at her. Rather than dwelling on their previous bought of bickering, the commander was contemplating how he could possibly continue working alongside her now that he has accepted his feelings.

What kind of fate would unfurl before him now?


End file.
